The Legend of Zelda: Dark Redemption
by allen.bair
Summary: Shepherd and his team work with Link, Zelda and Mickey Mouse to stop Xehanort from reaching the Sacred Realm and unleashing darkness across all realities. Contains crossover elements from The Legend of Zelda, Stargate: Atlantis, and Kingdom Hearts. Part two of "Kingdom's Heart."


The Legend of Zelda:

Dark Redemption

Kingdom's Heart

Part 2

by

Allen Martin Bair

2014

Chapter 1

It was near bedtime when the telephone rang in Russel's farmhouse outside of Ordonville that Tuesday night in Hyrule's late spring. He and his wife Tara had kept the television turned to the satellite news channel for the last two days straight, and they had just about given up hope for anything new for the day.

There had been something on earlier about some kind of a small R.H.M.G. escort which had traveled from Lake Hylia's resort town to Castleton in a hurry. The procession had gone straight to the palace, their only stop along the way being a rest area where other travelers caught snippets of video on camera of heavily armed military guardsmen protecting someone of some importance, though no one could get close enough to find out who. The old veteran and his wife paid careful attention to it just in case it had anything to do with their foster son who had ridden off two days before.

Their son Colin had been withdrawn and moody ever since his older brother's departure. Russel couldn't blame him. The eleven year old boy had stayed home from school the day before and that day, and spent most of those two days upstairs in his bedroom. And his father couldn't really explain the reasons why Link had to go, and why he had to let him, not to Colin, and only barely to his wife, Tara who had been frantic ever since Sunday night. She knew the sacred stories just as well as Russel did, maybe even better because she grew up devout. But the way she responded... He guessed it hadn't really been as real to her as it had become to him. It was with a mother's worried heart that she kept the television on the news channel, hoping and fearing for something about her lost boy.

Russel caught the telephone on the third ring, "Hello?" He said.

"Uncle Russel?" A very familiar voice asked, filling Russel with relief and exasperation. "Link!" He exclaimed so loudly that Tara came running into the kitchen. "Link where are you? Are you okay?" He asked frantically.

"I'm okay uncle Russel. I'm just fine. I wanted to call and tell you that. I'm in Castleton now." His foster son told him.

Waves of relief flowed over him as he relayed the message to his wife, who put her hand over her mouth and started crying, the pent up emotions and stress breaking through. "Does he need us to come and get him?" She asked through her sobs. Russel relayed the question, "Do you need us to come and get you son? Exactly where in Castleton are you?"

"No, I don't need you to come and get me. I'm fine. I have to go soon. Listen, there's probably going to be something on the news about me tomorrow. Don't freak out, okay?" Link said.

"Are you in some kind of trouble son? Did you do something illegal? Do you need bail money?" Russel asked, worried.

"No, no." Link laughed. It was good to hear his laugh again, Russel thought. "It's nothing like that. It's good news, I think."

"One more question before you go, son." Russel asked. "Did you find her? Is she safe?"

"Yeah uncle Russel. I found her. She's safe and sound. I'm here with her now. I've got to go. I'll try and call again really soon, okay? Tell Aunt Tara and Colin I love them, and I love you to." Link told him. They were glorious words for him to hear as Russel's heart swelled with pride. "I love you too, son, and I'm proud of you."

The conversation ended, and the line went dead. Russel hung up the phone. "He's okay. He found her and they're both back in Castleton. Everything's going to be okay." He told his wife.

"When is he coming home?" Tara asked.

"He didn't say, but he said there'll be something on the news tomorrow about him that we need to watch." Russel told her.

"He's not in trouble with the guard is he?" Tara asked.

"He said no. He said he thought it was good news." Russel told her. "We should go tell Colin."

The next day at noon, Russel, Tara and Colin were all sitting on the couch in the living room in front of the television waiting for the news Link had promised them. "When is it supposed to come on?" Colin kept asking. "I don't know, he didn't say." Russel told his son. "He just said there would be something today."

The telephone rang and Tara went into the kitchen to answer it. Colin and his father couldn't hear what the conversation was about, but it sounded serious. When she came back in, she said, "I don't know what to tell them. That was the High School wanting to know why Link hasn't been to his classes or shown up at school for the last three days. I can't tell them he's missing, and I can't tell them he's sick, so what do I tell them?"

"What did you tell them?" Russel asked.

"I told the school secretary 'thank you for calling,' and that I would get back to her as soon as I could." She said, frustrated. "What was he thinking? That he could just run off and no one would notice that he was gone without explanation?"

"I don't think anyone would have believed his explanation." Russel said.

"You did." Tara replied. "And I still can't believe you let him go, a seventeen year old boy, Russel!"

They had been through that argument so many times over the last three days that Russel was absolutely grateful when the regular news was interrupted. "Look, something's happening on the news!" He said excitedly. "I hope this is what we were waiting for."

"Do you think Link's going to get a medal or something?" Colin asked. "Is that what they're announcing?"

"I don't know, son." Russel said. "Let's listen and find out."

The picture on the television changed from the "BREAKING NEWS" logo to a group of reporters with still picture and video cameras, microphones, and note pads all standing or sitting about ten or fifteen feet from a podium which had been set up in front of the steps which formed the entry to the royal palace of Hyrule Castle. There were the sounds of many people talking at once, scrambling to connect pieces of broadcasting equipment, or speculating on what the announcement might be. The picture of an attractive female Hylian reporter came into view, and she began to describe the scene. "We're here live in Castleton at the Royal Palace where King Daphnes the fifteenth has called a press conference concerning the recent abduction of the crown princess, Zelda. We've been hearing through unconfirmed reports that the princess was returned to the palace last night at about nine o'clock by way of R.H.M.G. motorcade. The King has taken the unusual, though not unprecedented step of pre-empting all the networks for the announcement he's about the make."

"Wow. It must be really important, don't you think, Dad?" Colin asked. "And it has to do with Link!"

Russel's heart started beating faster. "I guess so." He said in reply. "I know Link helped bring the princess back, at least that's what he said on the phone. He did say he didn't want us to freak out at the news."

"There is also some speculation that the announcement may have something to do with yesterday's declaration of war by the Republic of Hyrule upon our United Kingdom." The reporter continued. In the background at the podium, a well dressed government official came up and looked as though he intended to speak, and the camera zoomed away from the reporter and onto the official. "Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "His Majesty, King Daphnes the fifteenth. King of Red Lions, Defender of the Faith, Holder of the Wind Waker, and Beloved of the goddesses!" He announced, and the conversations in the background ceased, and everything became very, very quiet.

Up to the podium came a handsome middle-aged man of powerful, once very muscular build, with salt and pepper mustache and beard wearing stylish gray trousers, a deep red coat, white dress shirt and red tie. On his head, above his pointed Hylian ears, he wore a broad band of gold set with red, blue, and green jewels around the band and the royal winged triforce emblazoned over his forehead. Everything about his demeaner and presence suggested the word "majesty."

"Thank you for coming out on such short notice. I know this is an inconvenience to many people, but the things I have to say I believe must be heard by all of our kingdom now more than ever." His majesty began. Russel and his family stared at the television screen intently, barely daring to breathe.

The king continued, reading from a set of notes on the podium in front of him, "The Sacred Texts tell us of Hyrule's ancient past, where our world was in constant threat by a Demon King, an evil god who wanted to enslave all mortals and force us to worship him. In response to this evil god, the great goddess Hylia went to war with him and sealed him away, choosing to be reborn as a mortal time after time to ensure that he never broke free. As part of her plan, a Hero was born to us as well to fight the Demon King should he ever escape his bonds. In every generation for thousands of years, the Lady Hylia and her Hero watched over us as the Princess named Zelda, and the Hero named Link. That is, they did so until two hundred and thirty years ago, when the Demon King was finally destroyed by the Hero with help from great heroes from outside of our world. Then the Lady Hylia and the Hero returned to their rightful places among the gods."

The audience of reporters seemed uncertain of the beginning of the king's speech. The looks on their faces begged the question, "Where is he going with this?" Most people of Hyrule, whether they were religious or not, knew the old tales and myths of the "Legend of Zelda," and they wondered what connection it might have with anything in the present day.

The king continued, "As many of you know, three days ago my daughter, the crown princess Zelda, was kidnapped by forces unknown to us at the time. She was rescued and returned to us last night by a very special young man. He is a young man Hyrule has not seen in two hundred and thirty years." The king then motioned to someone behind him to come up and join him at the podium, and a young man in archaic green clothes, cap, and chain mail complete with a sword and shield strapped to his back stepped up to the podium with the crown princess stepping up right beside him. The King, who stood almost a head taller than either of them stepped behind the couple and placed his left hand on Link's shoulder in a gesture of obvious approval and acceptance, and his right hand covered Zelda's with affection. The young man was holding the princess's hand tightly, and looked very nervous. Although there was something in his eyes, a maturity born of conflict that went deeper than his apparent teenage years.

The audience of reporters gasped as they saw him and Zelda, who wore a traditional pink and silver dress decorated with the royal winged triforce, side by side. Flashbulbs of still picture cameras could be heard and seen going off in rapid-fire succession in the back ground. Several of the reporters were seen to be tracing a series of three triangles around their heads and shoulders. Within seconds, the television screen split into two views as the news broadcast brought up traditional portraits of the Hero and Princess for comparison.

"Oh my." Tara said. "Russel, it's Link. The portrait of the Hero, it's our Link!"

"Yeah, I know, Tara. I've known for a long time now." Russel told her. "That's why I had to let him go." He said, hoping that she now finally understood his decision, and how hard it was for him.

"The Hero of Courage and the Princess of Wisdom have been reborn and have returned to guide us through a darkness which threatens to engulf us all. Yesterday, the Eastern Republic of Hyrule chose to declare war upon our kingdom. They do not agree with our ideas of equality, and the freedom to choose what path a person might take for himself. Their newly elected president wants to enforce his own ideas of perfection upon us through military might. The goddesses have responded to this man's evil rhetoric. They have shown which is the side of right by sending their champions back to us in our hour of need." The king went on.

"Is that true? Did the goddesses really send Link to us, Dad?" Colin asked in awe.

"I don't know son. The royal family and the Sages speak for the goddesses, so if the king believes it, maybe." Russel said, struggling with the idea himself.

"To this end, I am no one to stand in the way of the divine plans," King Daphnes said humbly, "And so I have, effective immediately, restored the Hero Link to his traditional and ancient position as Supreme Commander of the Royal Hyrule Military Guard, answerable only to myself and the crown princess."

"What!" Colin shouted. His mother and father weren't far off, their jaws dropping open.

"This decision is final, and his term as such will extend for the rest of his natural life, and into the reign of my daughter when she takes the crown as queen. In our hour of darkness, the goddesses have sent us two arrows of light to pierce and shatter the darkness. Let us pray to them for the courage, wisdom, and power to do what needs to be done in the coming days. That is all. Thank you, and good day."

Immediately the stunned crowd of reporters, those who had been sitting, jumped to their feet and began asking questions, and snapping more photos. Russel, Tara, and Colin just stared at the television, stunned. Then after a few minutes, Tara spoke up, "Well, I guess I don't have to call the school back now, do I?"

"No," Russel agreed, "I think they know where Link is now."

"Hey Dad, it's the Triforce." Colin said, pointing at each of the three persons the cameras were focusing on. "Look, Zelda is Wisdom to the right, Link is courage to the left, and the king is power at the top. Did the king do that on purpose?"

"I don't know, son." Russel said, but it wouldn't have surprised him.

The news continued as questions were asked by reporters, and the king calmly answered some of them, "Yes, the seal on the Hero's chambers has been successfully opened. Link got a good night's sleep last night in his own room." The king responded to one question.

Another reporter asked something that the family couldn't quite hear through the television's speakers, but Link responded by drawing the long, very sharp, sapphire hilted sword with the winged cross guard and gold Triforce emblem on it. Again the television screen was split into two views, one being the live broadcast, and the other being a very old photograph of the Master Sword, taken centuries ago. The reporters were comparing the two and unable to come to any other conclusion in that moment other than they were one and the same Sacred Blade. "Is that really the Master Sword? For all we know it could be a clever forgery!" One reporter called out, to which question Link responded with a voice like steel, "Would you like to see for yourself?" And he offered the hilt to the man. The reporter sheepishly declined, sitting back down. The king could barely hide his smirk at the man being put in his place.

"I noticed the Hero and the Princess holding hands. Is there some special relationship between the two that the kingdom should be aware of." Another female reporter called out. Link and Zelda both blushed crimson, though neither could hide the smile that came to them. The king then responded for them, "That is a private matter for the royal family to discuss at the appropriate moment. But I will tell you that if such a thing were to happen, I would not stand in its way."

"His majesty's really throwing himself out there to support Link in front of the media, isn't he?" Tara observed in wonder.

"He has to." Russel said in reply. "If they sense any disapproval from him, they'll tear Link apart and convince the people to refuse to accept him. His majesty can't allow that, not if he really believes Link to be who he says he is. He's a good man, King Daphnes, but he's got to play the game with the media to get the public on Link's side in order for him to win the game with the members of parliament. They won't be too happy that he made this decision without their being able to discuss it to death first." Russel observed.

"Can he make that decision on his own?" Colin asked.

"Our constitution says he can, whether some parties in parliament like it or not." Russel responded. "The royal family has full and sole administration of the military apart from the civilian government, especially in times of war. He can do anything he likes with the R.H.M.G. and they can't do or say anything about it, much as they'd like to. It's the same with the Sage's temples and religious structures. Parliament has no say in how they're run or administered."

The king then finished taking questions and he, his daughter, and Link retreated back into the palace. The live coverage on the television cut away to the studio where pundits and commentators already began their discussion and criticism of the king's announcement that day.

Just then the phone rang again and Tara got up to go get it again while Russel and Colin continued to watch to see if there would be any more information. The pundits argued and argued tearing apart each part of the recent report and trying analyze it for any hidden meanings or social commentary. "Wow, they're really dumb, aren't they?" Colin said in amazement. Russel just smiled and chuckled at his son's astuteness.

Within ten minutes, while Tara was still on the telephone another round of new information on the new Hero came on the screen, and the anchor at the newsdesk was cranking it out as fast as he could. "This just in, we've now learned that the new Hero is actually Link Faroson, a seventeen year old junior at Ordonville High School in Ordonville. He's the captain of the high school fencing team, and is something of a local hero in the rural town." The screen then went to the local news footage of the past weekend where Link had saved the Finniel family from a bad house fire in town. "He lives with his foster parents, Russel and Tara Swordsmith, a local Ordonian goat rancher family. It says here, from out research that Russel Swordsmith is a retired Lieutenant Captain of the R.H.M.G. 3rd Cavalry Division and..." He checked his notes twice, "a hero himself it seems. Link's foster father is the recipient of at least a dozen decorations for valor in combat including the Royal Medal of Courage, our kingdom's highest military honor for... wow." He exclaimed. "He fought off three bands of bulblin raiders for days with nothing but a sword, shield, bow and arrows by himself while protecting the rest of his cavalry unit, about a dozen men and their mounts who had been seriously injured in a explosive device ambush. And all of that with a broken leg from the explosion. And this is our new Hero's foster father? Talk about the right man for the job." The anchor said with a deep respect and wonder. "I'm not making this up folks, this gentleman's service records are a part of the public record, we just got them from the Ministry of Defense."

Colin stared at his father in amazement. "You never told me any of that, Dad."

Russel looked uncomfortable and embarrassed. "I wish they hadn't said all that to the whole world. It was a long time ago, and I couldn't save everybody. I kept the raiders away, but the heat and dehydration took good friends of mine, and there was nothing I could do to fight that." He said sadly. "I wasn't any hero those days. I was just the only one left standing. I wasn't going to let the green bastards have any of my buddies. If our roles were reversed, any one of the other men would have done the same."

Tara came back into the living room after the report. "That was Mala Finniel," she said. "Everyone in town's seen the news. They're all wondering what's going on, and if that's really our Link."

Just then there was a knock at the front door. Russel got up from the couch and walked over to open the door. At the front porch in his gray dress uniform, everything cleaned, pressed, polished and shining was an old friend of his, the guard captain from the R.H.M.G. barracks in Ordonville, Dali Garrows.

"Dali, good to see you!" Russel said extending his hand, which the other man took. "C'mon in, the family and I were just watching the news."

The guardsman came in, smiling politely, "It's good to see you too Russel. We missed you the other night for the game of cards. Now," he motioned to the T.V., "The whole world knows why."

"Yeah, we've been a bit worried for him the last few days, but at least we now know he's okay. So what brings you by?" Russel asked.

"My men and I are here in advance of the Royal Family Protection Service, we're supposed to keep your property under guard until they arrive." Dali told him.

"Royal Family Protection, what? Is his majesty coming here?" Tara asked, coming over to join the conversation. "But I haven't cleaned house in two days!"

"No, no, Tara. At least I don't think he or the princess is coming out here just yet. No, the R.F.P. is for you folks." Dali said.

"What?!" Russel replied in shock. "But we're not part of the royal family!" He protested.

"According to Hyrule Castle, you are now." Dali said, pulling out the sheet of paper which carried his orders and the king's personal seal which adorned them.

"When did you get these orders?" Russel asked.

"Earlier this morning. We were told to wait until the announcement before we carried them out. The R.F.P. should be here within the hour. I'm sorry we dropped the ball and didn't get out here sooner, but I and everyone else at the barracks were stunned to see your boy on the news. I mean, I knew he was the best duelist in Hyrule, but the Hero? Really?"

"We were just as shocked as everyone else." Tara said. "I couldn't believe it when Russel let him run off on some fool chase to save her highness, and then when they came out together holding hands? I couldn't believe he actually did it. But that's our Link, he's never backed down from a fight. Never."

"Don't I know it, Tara." Dali said, having some experience with the young man himself.

Russel just stood there looking at the paper with Dali's orders on them. He hadn't expected this. He knew letting Link go was the right decision, the _only_ decision he could have made and still been at peace with himself. But he hadn't foreseen the consequences of it, or the disruption in their lives it would bring. He went to the open door to see what his friend meant to find red and blue flashing lights forming a ring around his property with uniformed guardsmen carrying heavy weapons patrolling across his goat ranch. He could hear the panicked bleating of his animals out in the field as they ran from one side of the fenced pasture to the other trying to avoid the strangers.

"I didn't expect this." He said. "I didn't know..."

"None of us did, Russel. But the goddesses don't always give us what we want or expect, only what we need, and it's not always what we think we need either." Dali responded.

"So what happens once the R.F.P. gets here?" Russel asked.

"I don't know yet. I think it depends on how the world takes the news." Dali said.

Russel heard some commotion from outside and went back to the door to see what was going on. Down the driveway where their property met the road, he could see three or four large vehicles with news channel logos on their sides trying to get past the guardsmen who had posted their units there. There were annoyed reporters who got out of their vehicles and tried to push past the armed guardsmen in question. The gray uniformed men weren't having any of it and had their rifles pointed at them, shouting warnings. Russel knew a couple of the guards involved. They played cards with him and Dali on Monday nights. "I'd hate for them to have to use those on anyone, not just because of us." He said.

"King's orders." Dali said. "Full protection. No one but friends and family are allowed onto your property, on penalty of arrest or," He said drawing a breath and letting it out, "if they get within ten feet of you without permission, death. Same boundaries as for the royal family. Speaking of which, I need to get a list from you of people permitted onto your property for the R.F.P."

"Well, I guess we won't have any annoying salesmen coming around any more." Russel observed.

On the television, local news affiliates were interviewing members of Link's fencing team, his teachers from the high school, and anyone else they thought they could glean information about the teenager from. Almost everyone gave positive, even glowing comments about their varsity fencing team captain. Some of the girls were even saying how jealous they were of the princess now.

"This is going to get out of hand." Tara said, watching it.

"It already has, dear." Russel said. "It already has."

Chapter 2

The castle gardens were cool, peaceful, and comforting. The perfumed scent of dozens of flowering plants in splashes of colors highlighted and accentuated the statuary and topiaries which filled it, giving it the resemblance of a living museum of art. A landscaped brook of water bubbled and gurgled lazily along a cobblestone path around the gardens.

Zelda and Link sat on a stone bench in the middle of the gardens. Zelda held Link's trembling hands in his own. They had only been able to flee to this place within the last hour and he was still shaking from the previous, traumatic experience. "I hated that." He said for the third time. "I don't recall any past life where I had to face... had to face... reporters."

Zelda continued to try and hide her smile out of compassion for the man she cared about sitting next to her. She had grown up in front of the cameras, and had been forced to learn, from a very early age, how to handle them. All in all, the day's press conference had been pretty relaxed in comparison to some she had had to field. But Link, no matter what age he had lived in, had always been more comfortable dealing with those horrors that had to be faced with a sword, not a diplomatic answer.

"Actually, you did quite well for your first time." She told him. "Father was impressed you handled it as well as you did." It was true. He had whispered to her as they walked back through the palace gates that he almost expected Link to run once he saw the cameras if the look on his face had been any indication. He was happy the young man had stuck it out.

"Am I going to have to do that again?" He asked, terrified at her answer.

She smiled, held his hands to her heart and said, "As little as possible, I promise you, _Hero_." She had intended her emphasis on the last word to be a tease. "As long as you handle the monsters and dragons, I'll deal with the press. Deal?" She asked, kissing his knuckles gently.

"Deal." Link responded. He then looked around at the gardens, and it stirred a memory in him. "I remember these gardens, long, long ago. You were looking in the window over there." He pointed. "We were just kids. We didn't even know each other at that time."

"I remember." She said. It was, literally, lifetimes ago. "So many bad memories." She said sadly.

"You were never a bad memory. Not to me." Link said.

"I'm surprised." She said. "I dragged you into this so many times."

"It was my choice. It was always my choice, as it is now." He told her.

"It didn't surprise me when you chose to be with someone else the last time. It hurt, but it didn't surprise me." She said, speaking of things that happened in their last mortal life.

"I let too many things get in the way of us the last time. We were both too young at first. You were the princess, I was just some orphan kid from some village in Ordon, and neither of us had our full memories. I didn't do anything to really save you that time, and to be honest I thought I was beneath you." He remembered. "We never got the chance to reconnect the way we should have. Our duties kept us apart." He then added, "You never told me it hurt you."

"You were happy with Malon, and I wanted you to have that happiness. You've had it so rarely because of me." Zelda said. "And then the twins were born. I couldn't, I wouldn't do anything to hurt you or your family. Malon was good to me too. She became my best friend even before I knew she was my sister in that life. I didn't want to hurt her either. It became so complicated."

"You could have taken a husband." He said. "Why didn't you?"

"Maybe it was for the same reason we could never be together then. I never really had the time for another relationship. I became married to Hyrule, and that was demanding enough." She said. "But that was a different time, a different government. I don't have all of the same responsibilities now, and father has made clear to us his approval if that is our choice." She said with hope in her voice.

"Is it our choice?" He asked.

"It is mine." She responded, moving closer to press her lips to his again. They remained that way for some time, savoring the feeling and emotion of their lips' embrace. As they slowly drew away again, he asked playfully, "Is it okay for a high school farm kid to ask for the hand of the crown princess in marriage?"

"If you don't mind putting up with a spoiled princess for a wife." She replied, teasing.

"I didn't the first time back on Atlantis, but now I'll have to check with Epona. She'll have to have the final say." He joked.

"Hey!" Zelda semi-playfully slapped his shoulder.

"Okay, so maybe she won't have the _final_ say..." He conceded.

"Well, we'll just have to ask her when she arrives at the stables this evening." Zelda said. "Perhaps we can introduce her to my Starfire. He could use some companionship too."

"I think they'll probably get along just fine." Link told her. His face then grew dark and pensive.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"There's just so much going on right now. It almost doesn't seem right to be talking or thinking like this right now. We came back for a reason." He said.

"All the more reason to take these moments while we can." Zelda reassured him.

"Always my wise princess." He told her, looking into her eyes.

"Always my brave soldier." She responded, returning his gaze, love and affection filling her own blue eyes.

"Uh...hmmm," Someone nearby cleared there throat and the two separated and looked around to finally spot _general_ John Shepherd. "I'm sorry to interrupt," he said, and he did genuinely seem to be sorry. "but I just wanted to let you know that the Guard and R.F.P. teams have reported in, and your foster family is safe and secure for the moment. A little bewildered at all the attention, but safe nonetheless."

"Thanks, John." Link said, using Shepherd's first name.

"You're welcome." He said in return. "That's the first time you've called me 'John' in a long time. You got your whole memory back I take it?"

"Yeah, we both did. Everything's back." Link said.

"Everything? As in everything everything, or just sort of everything?" Shepherd asked.

"I remember those fishing trips we would take, and the log I caught. I also remember you laughing so hard you fell out of the boat. You failed to mention that when you told it." Link said to him.

"Yes, well I was testing you." Shepherd recovered as Zelda chose not to repress a giggle.

"I also remember my childhood, my first childhood, in Atlantis, the city in D'ni, and the Atlantean colony here, and our marriage." He said, looking at Zelda. "She was my wife. She was the reason why I came to the colony. I was a soldier, a specialist in martial arts and hand weapons similar to your friend Ronan, part of the platoon sent to protect the scientists. It made sense for me to come because my mother and wife were among the researchers."

All of that was new information to Shepherd who had just realized he didn't know his friend as well as he thought he had, and his face showed it. "Wow. That was what, Ten..?"

"Ten thousand years ago, just before the wraith wars." Link finished for him. "Too long ago."

"It must be tough, having to grow up and be a teenager all over again." Shepherd said, not knowing what else to say. This conversation had taken a strange turn for him, and gone in a way he hadn't expected.

"It has its advantages." Zelda offered. "We weren't nearly this young when we first came here."

"Well, I just learned something new about you two today that I didn't know before." Shepherd replied. "Now that you have all of your memories back, you don't happen to remember anything about this Ansem Xehanort guy, do you?"

Zelda nodded. "He's one of us." She said, and then quickly clarified, "not one of us, not from Hyrule's Others, but he's ascended, at least partly."

"How does that work?" Shepherd asked, confused.

"It's complicated. Instead of taking a mortal form and losing part of his powers, he infests a mortal 'host' like a parasite. I don't think he can keep his existence intact without one. We could feel that his energy is very powerful and very dark. We saw him enter our reality using a _lamna clavia_ doorway. We don't know where he's from, or what he wants, but with an energy that dark, there was no chance we could take that he wouldn't disrupt the delicate balance within this world. It is only our great fortune that he hasn't made any movements until now." Zelda tried to explain. "We couldn't take the chance of another Demon King being created."

"Well, I understand not wanting that to happen." Shepherd said, "Doctor Lee has some theories on what his background is and where he came from. As to why he's here, we think it might be because Maleficent was hunting him down trying to kill him. It sounds like she might have gotten pretty close to finishing him off too. We think he came here to hide from her on top of whatever other evil plan he might have had, but now that she's gone..."

"Now that she's gone, he's free to carry out that evil plan almost unchallenged." Link said. "The only thing keeping him restrained was the dark fairy finding him."

"Well, now it's our turn to step up to the plate. Rodney's still got the sangraal jewel. We need to find a way to deliver it and activate it without blowing up poor Fi like we did last time." Shepherd told them, crossing his arms. "Any thoughts on that subject?"

"No, not yet." Zelda said. "We don't even know what he really wants. Demise was relatively easy to bait."

"Speak for yourself, princess." Link quipped.

"You know what I mean." She returned. "We could use his hatred for Link and I, and his arrogance to trap him. Xehanort doesn't have the same history, and he's been patient for eighteen years. We need more information."

"Bill's working on getting it for us." Shepherd said. "He's brought... uh... journals with him that might shed some light on it, but it's going to take some time for him to go through them. There's a lot of information involved."

"Maybe we can help make the connections he needs." Zelda offered.

"I'm not so certain that's a good idea, there are some things about the relationship of your reality to ours that I'm not sure you really want to know. Certain things we haven't quite shared." Shepherd said, not sure how they would take the information that they were the main characters in a series of video games back home.

"I know more about this reality than you think I do, general." Zelda said, a knowing look in her eye. "I was one of the scientists researching it, remember? I know how it affects the other realities connected to it, and how others may be informed by it."

"Oh you do?" Shepherd said, never ceasing to be amazed by the young blond lady. "Okay, well then try this one. You know what video games are right?" He asked, hoping they weren't going to be too freaked out by the truth.

"Let me guess," Zelda offered, "Someone in your world is writing the stories of this one as a series of stories and characters for video games."

"Uh, yeah, actually, how did you...?" He was completely taken aback. He looked at Link who looked at Zelda in confusion, but not really with surprise. "Video games? Seriously?" Link asked her.

"It would be absurdly complicated for me to try and explain for you. No offense meant, general." Zelda said.

"Well, none taken then." He said, a little offended.

"It was something we predicted would happen. Do you remember the explanation of how the descriptive and linking books create links to any reality at any point in time or space that is possible which they might describe?" Zelda asked.

Shepherd's head wavered back and forth between a nod and a shake before he replied, "Sort of."

"Okay," she tried to explain patiently, "Well, it is a similar but inverse relationship. This point in time and space, this reality is writing the results of each choice, each belief, each idea formed within it within the minds and imaginations of people in other realities. It's a kind of nexus of reality and belief, where the quantum states of matter, where an electron might be and where it actually is, are far more dynamic and a thousand times more sensitive to the energies of a sentient, intelligent, self-aware mind capable of achieving ascension. A mind like yours, or mine, General."

"But I'm not evolved enough to ascend, not like you." Shepherd protested.

"But you can ascend with help, and your species will eventually evolve to where you won't need help any longer." She insisted.

"So you're saying yours and mine, and every person in Hyrule's thoughts are somehow shaping this world, and in turn this world is shaping the thoughts and imagination of people in my world?" Shepherd tried to understand. It was mind blowing, and his mind felt like a C-4 charge had just been detonated.

"In small ways, yes. Taken by themselves, they're small and barely noticeable, but taken together on a grand scale with so many people... It can completely unbalance this world and throw it into chaos." Zelda explained.

"So what's keeping it relatively stable?" He asked.

"We are. Well, the Others are right now. The ascended in this reality continue to make corrections and changes, constantly trying to keep the 'errors' if you will to a minimum." Zelda said with a certain inexplicable sadness.

"So this guy Xehanort, he could really screw things up then, and not just for Hyrule, couldn't he?" Shepherd reasoned out, trying to imagine the consequences in his world. Too many imaginations there were already dark enough.

"That is the reason why we chose rebirth." Link answered.

Doctor Lee was sitting at an expensive looking wooden desk, pouring over the game information database on the tablet computer he had brought with him from Atlantis. Daniel and Rodney were attempting to help him by scanning the same information on the tablets they had brought with themselves, but they just didn't have the natural interest in the subject that he did. Rodney had found a way to rig a power converter in order to charge their portable field computers with the Palace's electrical connections. They were working in the spacious palace apartment which had been granted to them for their use until a proper workspace could be set up.

"I can't believe you put together all this stuff in two days. It must have taken weeks to compile all this useless information." Rodney told him.

"Hey, well it's not useless right now, now is it?" Bill said in his own defense. "I'm just glad I had the foresight to include the wiki information on the _Kingdom Hearts_ series. I mean what would have happened if we were dealing with bad guys like the metroids, or like Mannaroth or Archimonde from World of Warcraft. We'd be up a creek if I didn't have all this, now wouldn't we?"

"Yes, Bill," Daniel chimed in, crossing his arms not believing what he was about to say, "For once in your life, your video game experience actually has the chance of saving the day."

"Hey, I didn't do too bad with Maleficent did I? Sheesh, you guys never appreciate me, even when I'm right." He said, his feelings slightly wounded. "Give a guy his due will you?"

"No, no you didn't." He conceded. "Now we need you to do something similar with this other, worse video game bad guy." Daniel returned.

"Right." Bill said, going back to his research. "Now I'm just sorry I didn't get more into the series. It just didn't hold as much interest for me, being more targeted towards younger kids. I could have been more useful more quickly."

"The whole thing is confusing as hell." Rodney said, trying to understand the material. "I mean, who comes up with this stuff?"

"I don't know, the stories and places of the _Kingdom Hearts_ series read a lot like metaphors for some larger truth, almost like some ancient religious texts or poetry I've studied. The chi-blade being forged from the conflict between the light and darkness in a kid's heart, for example, or the 'Lingering Will' as a character which ultimately drives out the evil from his own soul." Daniel explained. "There's definitely some larger truth behind it, the question is what?"

"And what pray tell, professor, is Mickey Mouse a metaphor for?" Rodney snorted in derision. "The whole thing is ridiculous."

"I don't know, the ultimate triumph of innocence and goodness over darkness, maybe?" Daniel suggested. "Ridiculous or not, Rodney, it's here and it's real enough to pose a threat to this world and ours."

"I don't get paid enough for this." Rodney said under his breath, going back to scrolling through his tablet.

"Please, let's not start that argument again." Daniel said in exasperation.

"Okay, but if Mickey Mouse shows up on our doorstep, I quit. You guys can deal with this one without me. My tolerance for the absurd only goes so far." Rodney replied vehemently.

"Well, this guy Xehanort is a real piece of work." Bill said, his eyes on the tablet screen in front of him. "I don't know how we're even going to get close enough to use the sangraal jewel on him and his host if he's anything in reality like he is in the game stories. I mean, he's as bad or worse than Ganondorf."

"Okay, pretend I don't know who Ganondorf is." Daniel said. "And that I've never played any of these games."

"Oh, right. Ganondorf was a Gerudo king who took hold of the Triforce of Power and tried to take over Hyrule in most of the _Legend of Zelda_ games." Bill explained. "He was this powerful evil sorcerer."

"Yeah, in reality he was one of Demise's mortal hosts." Rodney added. "Hyrule history one-oh-one. He was the reason why Link and Zelda had to keep coming back for thousands of years. It was the fight to keep him imprisoned in the Sacred Realm and to keep him defeated which kept Hyrule in the dark ages for all that time. Really bad guy. Think Anubis bad."

"And you're saying Xehanort could be worse?" Daniel asked. "Worse how?"

"Worse as in more powerful worse, and worse as in he might understand the nature of this world's reality a lot better than we do worse." Bill said. "But in all the games his one goal seems to be gaining access to the world called the true 'Kingdom Hearts' with the intention of spreading darkness throughout all worlds in order to counter what he calls the 'tyranny of light.'" Bill then set his tablet down and looked at his companions, rubbing his eyes and looking like he was trying to put the pieces of a jumbled puzzle together, "You know I've been thinking, and what this game calls Kingdom Hearts sounds an awful lot like the Triforce and the Sacred Realm here in Hyrule. Even the way to get into it. The Kingdom Hearts was protected by a kind of master keyblade called the 'chi-blade.'"

"That sounds a lot like the Master Sword, doesn't it?" Rodney said, seeing the logic of Bill's train of thought.

"Right!" Bill agreed. "But the only thing about it is, the story in the games goes that the original Kingdom Hearts and chi-blade were destroyed in the first keyblade war."

"So how could the Sacred Realm and the Master Sword be connected to it in any way?" Daniel asked. He then started trying to reason it out. "Okay, well if the Kingdom Hearts stories are poetic metaphors, then maybe the destruction of the true Kingdom Hearts and the chi-blade is a metaphor too. Maybe it wasn't their literal destruction. Maybe it was the destruction of the knowledge of them, or the way back to them from their own world or reality."

"Yeah, maybe. And this guy Xehanort, who's obviously obsessed with finding it, finally found a gateway here to the Sacred Realm's doorstep, but he didn't know precisely where in this world the entry point was." Rodney picked up on it.

"The Temple of Time." Bill said. "So that's got to be his objective then, doesn't it? Once he figures out where it is and how to gain access, he'll make his move, won't he?"

"Considering he just declared war on Western Hyrule, I think he's narrowed it down now." Daniel observed.

"Right." Bill said. "Right."

The short lone figure stepped off the train and onto the platform of Castleton's main transit station. He wore a black cloak with the hood drawn to hide his features from the surrounding fellow travelers. As he looked around at all the different kinds of people, he wondered if he really needed the secrecy, but the enchanted black cloak was necessary to keep unfriendly eyes, both physical and magical, from finding him before he was ready to be found.

None of the people around him noticed him either as he walked with purpose along the platform. His spell of concealment hidinghim from all but the most observant of magic users, and then, only if they knew to look for him.

The train station was very modern and different from the train stations which were in the dark figure's own world as he strode calmly and cautiously through the crowd. Digital screens displayed train times and numbers over ticket counters enclosed in glass and staffed by the sharp eared, elf like people that seemed to predominate in this world.

He bypassed all of them to head out of the station and into the larger metropolis that was the capital of this country. It was a larger city than he had ever traveled to before. "My goodness." He exclaimed in a high pitched, almost adolescent voice. For a minute he almost began to despair of ever finding what he was seeking in the complex, organized chaos that was downtown Castleton.

But then he felt it. The thin calling of light that had drawn him here to this place. His search for the evil man that had brought him to this world would begin at the source of it.

He had wrestled with the question for years. Could Master Xehanort have actually survived their final battle with him? None of his friends seemed to believe so, and for his own reasons, he kept his suspicions from them. But there was this feeling that kept nagging at him, that still nagged at him as he walked along the cement sidewalk towards the heart of the city, the walls of Old Castle Town. It was a memory of his time studying in the library of Ansem the Wise, a library he knew Xehanort had also had access to. There was one book in particular that described a world in metaphor and rhyme. Now, the small figure knew that it spoke of this world that he now walked through. It was a world which had long remained disconnected and forgotten by the rest of his people in the other realms, but not completely impossible to reach. Could Xehanort have somehow fled here?

Xehanort. The man was responsible for hurting his friends in cruel and dark ways. If he had his way, he would bring the whole of his reality into darkness. He was also responsible for Pete's murder in cold blood. The stranger felt heartbroken upon hearing Maleficent's cries of outrage and pain when she found the oversized cat's body. He had known Pete too in another lifetime. He wouldn't have ever really considered him a friend, but he had known him and worked with him. He deserved better than what he got. It made the stranger angry, and want justice for his former acquaintance. He had to know for certain that the evil sorcerer was finally gone or not.

His suspicions were all the more confirmed when he learned of Maleficent's departure, and when he tracked where she went through the gateways. He had followed her alone this time. He wouldn't involve his friends with this. They had too much in the way of bad feelings towards the dark fairy, and she and he had a common enemy to fight this time. An agent of light and an agent of darkness to combat the destructive imbalance Xehanort would bring on them all. He just had to make contact with her. Then he arrived in this world and felt the power of the light with which it filled him. It was invigorating, like waking up from a dream into the reality, and he just knew this was where Xehanort had come. It had to be, he could feel the power of Kingdom Hearts flowing through it everywhere here.

Eventually his destination came within sight. It looked like a great cathedral with stained glass windows just outside of the old town walls. He had heard the locals refer to it as the "Temple of Light." His search would begin there. He pushed back one of the long black sleeves to reveal a white glove and a wristwatch on a thin arm with short black fur. It was close to three in the afternoon.

"We're going to need access to the Temple of Light, your majesty." Shepherd told the monarch once he arrived and had been announced. He had just come from one of the weirdest conversations he had ever had with a man he thought he had known fairly well. Shows how much I know about anyone, Shepherd thought to himself.

They were in a private study of the king's which overlooked the garden. His majesty had been watching the two teenagers next to a set of royal purple silk curtains through the expansive window which opened up onto the castle gardens. A short glass with a small amount of orange brown liquor and ice cubes was in his hand from which he sipped gingerly.

"Do you drink, General?" The king asked him in a friendly and familiar manner.

"On occasion, sir, when I'm off duty." Shepherd responded.

"_Sir_." The king repeated. "I'll have to get used to that. I haven't had someone call me 'sir' in a long time. It's always 'your majesty this' and 'your majesty that.'"

"I apologize, your majesty." Shepherd corrected himself.

"Oh don't." The king replied. "I kind of like it. It's so much more efficient and less pretentious. That's one thing I have never been able to stand is pretense, and yet in my position I must use it constantly to get anything done that needs to. Do you follow my meaning, General?"

"I'm not sure, sir." Shepherd responded honestly.

The king watched his daughter and her Hero unseen by either of them, sipping his drink. "Would you like some, General?" He offered, gesturing to a crystal flask filled with the liquid and an extra glass in the setting. "It's a sweet pumpkin liquor from Ordon. It's been aged very well, and I hate to drink it without sharing it with someone."

Not wanting to offend the man, Shepherd took his offer and, walking over to the table poured himself a small amount, taking a sip. The liquor was sweet, similar to a good pumpkin pie he once had, but it burned like mad going down. "It's good." Shepherd told him. "Better than some I've had."

"I'm glad someone else appreciates it here besides me. I import it from a micro-distillery in Ordon that makes this batch special just for myself. No one else here seems to be able to enjoy a fine _Ordonian_ liquor quite like myself. And that should tell you something, General. I understand there's a guard captain in Lake Hylia who wouldn't enjoy it much either." The king said with a knowing look.

"No, I don't think he would, sir." Shepherd said.

"This is where the real fight is, General. It isn't a fight of swords, shields, bullets, or even fists. It's a fight of ideas. And the idea that someone Hylians are better than everyone else is like a cancer that is eating away at our society. It's already consumed the eastern half of our realm, and still it spreads. I have to use every weapon at my disposal to fight it, no matter how much I may not want to. Like those two down there," he motioned with his glass towards Zelda and Link down below, "keeping the peoplr of Hyrule safe, all of her people, from all threats is my responsibility, and I take it very seriously. I refuse to leave anyone, any one of us be it Hylian, Zora, Ordonian, Goron, fairy, or even the odd educated bulblin, and there are a few here and there; I refuse to leave any of my people behind. You can understand that, can't you General?"

"Absolutely, sir." Shepherd said, coming to like this man very quickly.

"I look at my daughter down there, and to see the joy and love in her eyes when she looks at that young man brings nothing but happiness to my heart. She's taken so little time for herself, you know. She's never seriously considered anything for herself, but from the time she was little has been working to make our kingdom better for everyone. If I could have shielded both of them from the press, if I could let them both just be young people in love like they should be able to be then nothing would please me more." The king took another sip of his drink, his eyes still on the gardens.

"But you can't, can you, sir?" Shepherd asked, picking up on what was bothering the man. It was the media this morning. It was having to order protection for the farming family and disrupting their lives. It was having to splash Link's face all over the airwaves even while seeing how uncomfortable the young man was.

"No. No I cannot." The king took a deep breath and sighed. "That's not how the game is played. How it has to be played whether I like it or not." He then turned away from the window and turned to face Shepherd. "Do you know what I now see when I look at those two, General?"

"A couple of teenagers that aren't?" Shepherd offered.

The king smirked, "You noticed that too, have you? I look at Link and I see an extraordinary young man who risked everything to save my daughter. I also see my ancestor from centuries ago and possibly farther back than that. I don't know for certain. And, I also see the Hero who inspired me as a boy, and to whom I have offered prayers for the courage to do what is right all of my life." He took another sip. "It is the same when I look at Zelda ever since she returned from the desert. I still see my little daughter whom I have loved and cared for since her mother died giving birth to her. She is the joy of my heart and always will be. But I now also see the ancestral matriarch of the royal family evident in her every step, and her every word and gesture. And," he took another sip and finished the glass, "I can't fail to see my goddess, Hylia, and eternity in her deep blue eyes. My goddess come back to us from heaven and reborn in flesh. How did I not see that before I ask you?"

"It must be weird for you too, then, sir." Shepherd empathized.

"You have no idea." The king replied. "I consider myself a devout man, General. I must be because it is my position as king to defend our faith, and keep the remembrance of the Legend of Zelda in the people's minds and hearts. And now I find myself in the position of having to use these young people to as weapons in a war of propaganda, a war of ideas, to convince the people that our way, the way of equality and the freedom to choose one's own path is the way the goddesses would have us go. And I find myself hating the... the _blasphemy_ of it." He spat the word. "I meant what I said to Link. It is I who should be bowing to them, and not they to me. I only hope to find forgiveness from them after it is all over."

"I'm sure they will understand the necessity, sir." Shepherd said, trying to console him. He knew he was way out of his depth here in the conflict the man was feeling.

"Any amount of happiness I can give them before this is all over with, I will. I swear it to you, General. I will owe them that much and more by the time this is done." The king said.

"Of course, sir." Shepherd said.

"Now, to the business at hand." The king said. "You wanted access to the Temple of Light?"

"Yes, sir," Shepherd responded, remembering why they had come. "We need to find out why the Sages haven't responded to anyone, including Talon in the Temple of Time. You and Zelda are the only ones besides the Sages themselves who can enter the Temples without, uh, 'special invitation.' The closest one to investigate is the Temple of Light here in Castle Town, er, Castleton. The reasoning is that what's affecting the Sage here, might be the same thing that's affecting the Sages elsewhere. It'll just be Link and I going in as long as you give permission for Zelda to unseal and open the doors. We'll have a couple of units of guardsmen on the premises to try and prevent any other unauthorized entry."

"As long as it's discreet. I don't want to cause any commotion among the population with Hyrule Guardsmen locking down a Sacred Temple in such a public venue. Imagine the news broadcasts with that." The king said. "A war of ideas, General. That's what we're fighting."

"We'll keep the cameras outside of the temple compound walls, sir." Shepherd said, though he was grateful for the reminder. This wasn't like the Hyrule he had known. There were more factors to consider now. "We'll be in and out as quickly as we can. We're just going in to check on the Sage of Light."

"Permission granted, but wait until after dark when most of the people will be off the streets. The fewer eyes on the ground the better." The king said.

"Understood, sir." Shepherd said, setting his half finished glass of liquor on the table. "I'll go and set everything up. We should be ready to go in at nine o'clock."

"Midnight, General. Castleton doesn't sleep that early during the week, especially not that close to the Old Town." The King corrected, knowing his city better than the stranger from the past.

"Midnight it is, sir." Shepherd confirmed, as he began to leave.

"Oh, and General?" The king addressed him one more time. Shepherd turned to look at him. "Keep my daughter and my future son-in-law as safe as you can for me. For all of us. I don't know what we'd do if anything happened to them."

"You have my word, sir." Shepherd told him solemnly, and then walked out.

Chapter 3

The advertisement started running on the television in the early evening. Russel and his family were eating dinner in the dining room within sight of the television, still turned to the news channel. It was a series of quotable moments from the king's and Princess Zelda's speeches over the last year, and showing the evils which the eastern republic's apartheid policies had brought to the people of that nation. It always ended with that one shot of the king, with Zelda at his right hand and Link at his left, their faces eventually framed in a Triforce outline and exclaiming "The divine favors the righteous cause!"

Russel, Tara, and Colin didn't say much as they ate the fried cucco that Tara had prepared. She had offered for Dali to stay for dinner, but he declined and his men were recalled to their barracks shortly after the Royal Family Protection Service men arrived on their property in black dress suits, badges, and military grade assault rifles. Russel and Tara had come up with the list of their friends and family, almost a quarter of Ordonville it seemed by the time they were done, and given it to Dali who dutifully turned it over to the R.F.P. lead officer, a stranger to them.

Since the security men arrived, about twenty or thirty of them, they spread out around the house and barn and down the driveway. There was at least one man at every entrance to their house and one posted upstairs. Even their horses got their own security detail as men took up station at both the front and back doors of the barn.

The men weren't unfriendly, and Russel and his family weren't unfriendly to them, but they were strangers, crisply professional, and they took their job very seriously; and that was making the family more uncomfortable than anything else. Poor Elsie Finniel had tried to come by to find out if that was really Link on the T.V. and she found herself undergoing a pat down as her name was checked on the list. The poor sixteen year old girl was in tears from the embarrassment of the thorough R.F.P. body search by the time she was able to make it to the front door, and Tara had her sit with her in the kitchen trying to calm her down with a cup of warm, sweetened milk while she tried to start their supper. Russel was so angry at their treatment of the girl he wanted to throw them off his property, but then he got another good look at the news vehicles and reporters lined up along the road trying to get onto his property to score an exclusive interview, and the security personnel warning them off. He didn't like it, but perhaps it was better than the alternative.

The advertisement was almost the last straw for him. He hadn't asked for any of this when he let Link go, and now he began to regret it bitterly. If Link knew what was happening here, Russel thought, surely he wouldn't go along with it. If he knew how they treated poor Elsie, and who knows who else they didn't let through... Well, Link was a better man than that.

Elsie went home not long before they sat down to eat, not sure of what they could or should talk about in front of their "protection." The cucco was tasty, and the greens Tara cooked up with it weren't as fresh as if they were from their own garden, it wasn't the right season for that yet, but they weren't bad either. There was a store bought pumpkin pie and leftover birthday cake from the past Sunday for desert, but none of them really felt like eating the cake. Without Link there, it just didn't seem right.

Then the television changed again, and another local news announcement came on the air. "This just in, the Royal Hyrule Military Guard is ordering all Guardsmen on leave to return to their assigned barracks. All reserve Guardsmen are being ordered to report to their nearest R.H.M.G. command post for active duty. All former and retired Guardsmen are being requested by the R.H.M.G. supreme command to report to their nearest command post for active duty. No explanation as of yet is being given except for the declaration of war by the eastern republic as of yesterday."

Russel stared at the television screen pensively. "It must be serious if they're asking all the veterans to come back." He said. "They must be expecting something big."

"What could they be expecting, Dad?" Colin asked.

"Well, the only thing I could think of that would need all of us retired guardsmen would be if they were expecting an invasion." Russel said. "I wonder if Link gave that order, or if someone below him did."

Tara looked at her husband, and the look on his face. "Russel, what are you thinking?" She asked, a serious tone to her voice, as though she was afraid of the answer.

"They're calling all of us up." Russel said. Tara couldn't fail to notice that he was using the word "us."

"Russel, it's been years, and your leg never healed right. You've already done your duty to Hyrule." Tara told him, a pleading creeping into her voice.

Russel took a deep breath and sighed, and then said, "If Link really is the Hero, then he's already done his duty to Hyrule too. And yet he came back when Hyrule needed him, no matter how much he's already given, and if the legends are to be believed, it's more than anyone could have asked of him. Can I do any different? Do I have the right or the excuse if Hyrule needs me again too?"

"We need you right here! Dammit Russel, don't be stubborn about this! Do you think these men will even let you go?" Tears came to Tara's eyes. "I don't want anything to happen to you, you stubborn fool!"

Russel got up from the table, standing up straight. "And if I stay here, and don't go when I'm called, what kind of a man would I be? What kind of an example would I be for our son?" He said gesturing to Colin. "If I want my son to be a man of wisdom, power, and especially courage than I have to be that man first. I always came back before, and I'm going to come back now. Besides, I doubt they'd put an old codger like me on the front lines. They'll probably have me guarding some out of the way supply station or something. I'll be fine, Tara, and these gentlemen here will make sure nothing happens to any of you. That's why they're here."

"You come back to me, old man." Tara told him, conceding and seeing that there was no way she could talk him out of it, moving around the table and throwing her arms around him. "You come back to me in one piece, or I'll kill you myself." She said.

"Yes, ma'am." He replied as he returned her embrace. Then Colin got up and joined their embrace. "I love you, Dad." He said with a mixture of fear for the future, and pride in his father.

"I love you too, son." Russel said, holding his family tight.

"They're going to invade." General Shepherd told the military staff who had been placed under his authority. The day had been extremely busy for him, and it wouldn't end until early the next morning for him if he was luck. He had spent the last couple of hours after his conversation with King Daphnes in the palace war room, the military command center for the entire R.H.M.G., being brought up to speed on Hyrule's current military capabilities, available manpower, mobile armor, naval assault craft, and air forces, as well as the ability to repel the same. Really, this should have been Link standing here preparing his nation for war, but Shepherd didn't want to take him away from Zelda so soon. He's going to need to deal with a larger threat than an enemy invasion, Shepherd reasoned. He smirked at the thought, because for anyone else that would have been an arrogantly foolish idea, but not for Link. Nope, the invading army was left to the ordinary mortals to deal with.

The total population of the United Kingdom of Hyrule was only somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty million with an active R.H.M.G. force of about sixty thousand spread between the provinces performing both military and law enforcement duties. It was kind of like the Royal Canadian Mounted Police except with a distinctly military function to it, especially during wartime. There were another ten to twenty thousand reservists, and between forty to fifty thousand retired veterans. Shepherd had given the order to call all of them back to active duty. The reservists had no choice, but he hoped the veterans here in Hyrule were just as patriotic about their duty as the good men he knew back home. He couldn't force them to come, but he did order that they be requested to return to uniform in preparation for an attack. Intelligence on the eastern republic's military capability was sketchy at best, and Shepherd had this bad feeling that whatever they were planning was going to happen soon.

"If it was me, I'd be using air transports to drop men and armor into Hyrule Field once they clear the coastal mountains and then push towards Castleton. That would be the quickest route if they intend conquest. Do we have anti-aircraft on the mountains?" He asked.

"We have a few batteries sir, artillery and missile launchers stationed here, here, and here." Another General pointed out three separate locations along the mountain range which ran north from the Parapa desert all the way to the south near Midoton. "We've discussed placing more, but the palace's policy has been to try and keep the peace with the east. It was thought that more militarization would run against that goal."

"Some people just can't be negotiated with." Shepherd said. "My people learned that the hard way, again and again."

"Yes, sir." The General said in agreement.

"Okay," Shepherd started trying to think through what the three scientists who were his friends and companions had told him about their enemy. Where would he go? What would be his objective? "What about the Temples. I've got it on good authority the east's president may take a particular interest in the Sages' Temples. What kind of defenses are stationed there?"

"Two of the Temples are in ruins in the East. We don't have any information on their condition. Of the remaining six, the Temple of Spirit is nearly impossible to access through the western desert. No one goes in or out except the Sage, and she hasn't been seen in almost two decades. We'd lose men just trying to protect it. The Temple of Shadow is buried deep inside the cliffs outside of Old Kakariko Village, and to be honest, only her royal highness actually knows where to find it. Locating the Temple of Forest is almost as difficult through the Lost Woods of the Kokiri Forest. The Temple of Fire sits in a volcano surrounded by molten rock. No need to explain why we're not guarding the entrance. It's suicide for us to try and enter. The Temple of Water is at the bottom of Lake Hylia and remains under twenty-four hour Guard by Zora Extraordinary Forces. The Temple of Light, just outside the walls of Old Town has a regular R.H.M.G. patrol posted, but we generally allow tourists and the devout access to the outside grounds, just not into the building itself. That leaves the Temple of Time the outside of which, as you have experienced, is under heavy guard by our men as well. None of the Temples are accessible by anyone without the express permission of the Sages except for the members of the royal family. The truth is, if any of the Temples are this man's target, for whatever reason, then I would say let him try. We'll be rid of him that much sooner, sir." The General responded.

"Maybe, but I'd like to hedge my bets. Let's station more men here at the Sacred Grove command post. See how many of the veterans respond to the recall from the surrounding towns and have them reinforce the Guard command post there, that'll free up our active duty for the main fight in the Field. Have the rest of our armor and ground forces waiting to the east of Castleton. I want assault gyrocopter patrols in flights of five across the Field, and I want eyes on radar at all times. Have the navy blockade the ports around Mido as well." Shepherd said. "All eyes to the east."

"How do you know it will be the eastern Hyrule Field, sir? Why not invade through the northern desert using naval transports?" Another officer asked.

"Unless the tides have changed in two hundred years, the seas will be too rough to make the landing, and if they do manage to get troops on the shore, then they have to march them through the desert and still come at us through the field. No, this is what I would do." He said.

The old gray cavalry uniform still fits, Russel thought. He hadn't worn it in some number of years, and then only for a reunion with his old unit at a gathering in Ordonville. He strapped the scabbard of his old sword to his back in uniform fashion to finish the ensemble. He should have been carrying his shield as well, but he had given that to Link before he left. He would have to see if the barracks had a spare, or just go without. Most likely he would be carrying a rifle anyway, but a properly enchanted shield could save your life against gunfire, though not the life of your mount. His padded metal helmet lay at the bottom of his old chest. There were still a few dings in it from times when he shouldn't have come back alive but did anyway. He picked up his old helmet with the visor, and went back downstairs, retrieving his old service rifle and revolver from their mountings on the wall as he went.

He hugged his family goodbye one last time, and then walked past the confused security men without saying a word heading for his stable where the horse that had been with him against more wild trolls and octoroks than he cared to count waited. He pulled his tack out and began to saddle his mount.

"Sir, I need to know where you intend to go." Came the annoying voice of the lead R.F.P. officer.

"Didn't you hear the news, son?" Russel asked him as he buckled the saddle into place. "I've been requested to return to duty."

"Sir, you've been requested, but not ordered." The officer pointed out tactfully.

"Do you just sit on your ass, son, when your king requests you to do something?" Russel asked, enjoying the look on the officer's face at the question.

"Sir, please remove the saddle from the animal. As your security lead, I cannot allow you to..." He never got the chance to finish his sentence.

"Let me put it to you this way, son." Russel interrupted him. "You're technically R.H.M.G. yourself, right?"

"Yes, sir, I am." The man answered with some pride in his voice.

"And what rank do you hold in the Guard?" Russel then asked him.

"Lieutenant, sir." He asked, not sure where he was going with it.

"Mmm-hm. Now, have a look at my collar. What rank does it say I have?" Russel asked him.

"Lieutenant Captain, sir." The man said, beginning to sense defeat.

"So, _lieutenant_, I have just been recalled to active duty, therefore I outrank you. So, please understand I mean this with the utmost respect when I say, like hell I have to do anything with this saddle other than report for duty. Do I make myself clear, _lieutenant_?" Russel told him.

"Yes, sir." The poor man replied.

"Good. Now, if you will be so kind as to carry out my orders and take good care of my family. And if I hear about any more of your men feeling up any of my nephew's friends, or anyone from town again just so they can talk to us, you can be sure the palace will know about it. If I know Link, he won't be too pleased to hear how poor Elsie was treated." Russel said.

The man stiffened. "Understood, sir. Your family and friends will be safe with us. I promise."

Russel then came around to the horse's left, checked his saddlebags one more time, and hoisted himself up into the saddle. "Glad to hear it, lieutenant." Then addressing his mount, "Ready for one last adventure, Xavier?" The horse snorted and pawed the ground in response. "Yeah, me too. Well, let's do it anyway."

The R.F.P.S. Officer stepped out of Russel's way, and, standing at attention, saluted him saying, "Good hunting, sir."

Russel nodded crisply in response, donning his helmet. And then he trotted Xavier out and across his property and down the road. He rode past the news vehicles and reporters who hadn't yet been informed of the recall to duty, and so didn't know the uniformed cavalryman riding off into the night was the very man with whom they sought an interview.

Link was in the royal stables that night with Zelda settling Epona into her new home. He had just received his personal effects, his sword and clothes which he left behind at the Sacred Grove days before, and his nine year old mare who had been his first and only mount since he had come to live with his foster family. The white haired, brown bodied horse wouldn't allow anyone else to ride her.

"See, it's not so bad girl. I was promised you'll get all the oats you want." He said, trying to calm her down in the somewhat intimidating new surroundings. He had felt a little intimidated himself, and he could remember the palace being his home in many, many of his prievious lifetimes.

"She looks so much like the others. It's no surprise you two were drawn to each other." Zelda observed, her hand on the mare's nose, stroking her head.

"She likes you. That's a good sign. She doesn't usually like too many girls." Link told her. "She tends to get a little protective of me."

"Well, that's something we might share in common then, won't we Epona?" Zelda told the horse. Epona nodded as though she understood.

"I thought I might find you here." Shepherd's voice carried to them from outside the stall. "I heard that Epona's horse hauler had arrived. How'd she take th trip?" He asked.

"Pretty well, although I think it'll be her last one for a while not under her own power." Link responded. "I'll try and run her tomorrow a bit."

"Yeah. Uh, I spoke to your father, Zelda, about the Temple of Light, he wants us to wait until midnight before we enter. Is that okay with you?" Shepherd asked.

"Yes, of course. Who will be entering with you?" She said, her face and voice shifting from the playfulness of a few seconds before to something more solemn and formal.

"Just Link and I. No one else. Just a quick check on the Sage of Light. He should be aware of our presence the second we set foot in the Temple, right?" Shepherd asked.

"That is correct." Zelda responded.

"Good, so hopefully this will go quickly. If he doesn't show up within a minute, Link and I will conduct a search. Is there anything in there that we should be aware of right now before we enter? I understand the Temples can have some pretty nasty surprises for uninvited guests." Shepherd asked, remembering the trouble he had getting through some of the levels in the _Zelda_ games he had played.

"You must play or sing the royal lullaby while standing over the Triforce emblem on the floor of the entry hall. Link knows the song I speak of. It will disarm the ancient traps for unwanted trespassers and allow you access to the rest of the building. The Sage's residence is in the rectory towards the south wing of the Temple." She explained.

"And will we be able to access the whole facility?" He asked.

"Everything but the Sanctum. For that you will need the key for it, and that is hidden within the Temple itself. Only the Sage knows where it is kept. I have not been made privy to its location." Zelda told him.

"And what are the chances the Sage will be in the Sanctum?" Shepherd asked.

"I don't know, but it is a possibility. But if that's the case, the Sanctum should be unsealed. I can't think of a reason why the Sage would lock himself in there. Link should know the way. He's been in there before." Zelda explained.

Shepherd looked to Link who nodded quickly, "From _before_." He said.

"Right, got it." The General said shaking his head, still trying to comprehend it.

"Okay, second order of business, the sangraal jewel." Shepherd went on, "Rodney wants to know how we're going to deliver it once you get into close proximity with Xehanort. We can't just blow up Fi again, especially if it's in a Temple or a crowded area."

"No, certainly not." Link agreed. He remembered the pain of losing one of his oldest friends in a previous lifetime and didn't want to experience it again., machine though she might be. "Can it be fixed to another blade? One that isn't made of the same metal as the Master Sword?"

"Good question, do you have one in mind?" Shepherd asked.

Link went to the bundle that had been given to him upon Epona's arrival and retrieved his trusted Ordonian fencing blade. "The blade needs to be sharpened for real combat, but other than that it's a good sword that's never failed me before." He said.

Shepherd took the sword in question, "It's got a good balance to it." He said, feeling it. "You sure you want to give it up for this?"

"Better this one than Fi. Besides, I don't think I'll be going to the championships this year, do you?" Link asked sarcastically.

"No, I guess not." Shepherd agreed. "By the way, I went over Hyrule's defensive capabilities with your Generals, do you want the whole thing or the short version?"

Link gave him a look which couldn't be mistaken for anything else other than, "What do you think?"

So Shepherd filled him in, ending with his own educated guesses and the measures he had taken. Link agreed with his assessment, and the measures he had taken to augment the military's numbers. "By my estimates that should more than double our fighting forces when it comes down to the ground fighting." Shepherd said.

"What about the normal emergency response roles of the Hyrule Guard?" Zelda asked. "People are going to be frightened if they do invade. They'll need someone in the towns and cities to keep order."

"That's why I also requested the veterans and former guardsmen to be recalled to active duty, to fill those roles that would be left behind by the younger, more able bodied men pulled to fight." Shepherd said. "It would have been helpful if I could have been able to form militias as citizen guards as well, but I was told that forced conscription was made illegal years ago by parliament."

"That is true. It was legislation my father sponsered." Zelda told him.

"Right." Shepherd said, trying to think of a quick way to change the subject. "So, we'll meet back together by eleven o'clock, then, and I will take this to Rodney now and let him figure it out."

The black robed figure moved silently and swiftly among the passersby on the streets under the city lights. The sidewalks of the metropolis were filled with more and more people the closer to the heart of the city he came. There were all kinds of people. Some looked as though they were merely returning home from work, others looked as though they were looking for the next party. He passed by a theater of some kind with scores of people lined up outside to see something inside called, "The Hero's Heart," at least according to the marquee. He wondered what hero, and what had happened to his heart.

The streets were filled with cars, trucks, and other vehicles, as well as a few carriages with horses that seemed to move from one neon-lighted venue to another, as well as around a park that couples strolled through holding hands. There was an energy, a life to the place which was almost electric. He hoped for their sakes that he was successful in his task. He didn't want anyone else hurt.

He could feel the source of the light drawing him towards a massive cathedral like building sitting just outside of the walled fortifications of the city's center. Unlike the rest of the city, this building had no people visiting it right now, but it sat behind stone walls of its own, guarded by professional looking soldiers in gray uniforms with very serious looking firearms. He studied the situation carefully. His spells of concealment had held so far, but he could feel this place was different. He didn't know if things would fall apart here or not.

"Well," he whispered to himself, "I didn't come this far to turn back now."

He then carefully and silently headed up the steps towards the first checkpoint where stood two guards. Neither of their heads turned in his direction, though he stood right between and in front of them. He continued on and past them, making no sound. He continued in this same way past the next set of guards, and the next set after that, as well as the dozen or so guards patrolling the perimeter of the inside of the walls around the central building.

"Wow, it sure is beautiful." The stranger said to himself in admiration. The Temple had its own grove of trees off to the north side, and two pools of water separated by a marble walkway leading straight up to the doors. Over the main doors there was a triangle symbol that he didn't recognize, but had seen in different places all over the city. "It must mean something important." He reasoned. The tall spires of the building crowned it majestically.

He walked up to the oddly simple wooden doors and placed his white gloved hand on the door feeling for any magical traps or seals. He sensed several. The seal on the door was absolute. Absolute that is, for everyone except a keyblade master.

He motioned with his right hand and what looked like a large golden key with a sword grip appeared. He pointed the keyblade towards the sealed door and a keyhole appeared where none had been before. He thrust the key into the lock and turned it. The door opened silently inwards, and the dark robed figure slipped in, closing the door behind him so no one suspected anything was amiss.

After he was certain the door was closed and sealed, he removed his hood to give his large eyes more light to take in the large entry hall which greated him. His large, round black ears unfolded and began filling his senses with what sounds could be heard in the otherwise silent building.

At the opposite end of the hall from the doors was a kind of altar with a marble depiction of wings upswept. On the altar had been set three large gold and jeweled pendants. One was composed of sapphires, one of rubies, and one of emeralds. They seemed to shine with an inner light of their own in the otherwise darkened hall. Behind the altar was a set of doors that were also closed.

"Something doesn't feel right here." The stranger said to himself. "This is a center of light, I can feel that, but there are too many shadows that don't seem to belong."

Just then behind him heard a noise at the door. He quickly pulled his black hood back over his black, short furred head, and ducked off to the side, blending in with what he hoped were natural shadows as the main doors opened once more, and two men stepped inside.

Chapter 4

The gold covered wooden door opened silently inward upon Zelda's firm touch. "Once the door closes again, the seal will reset." She told Shepherd and Link. It was midnight precisely according to their watches, the moon overhead beginning its wane. She then moved to enter with them.

"Where are you going?" Shepherd asked, standing in her way. "You're not going in there with us, are you?" That just wasn't going to happen. There was no way he was going to allow her to put herself into possible harm's way.

"Of course. The Temples and their Sages are my responsibility. Why would I ask you to go in and not go in myself?" Zelda responded.

"Look, your highness, we don't know what's in there, and you're the crown princess. I'm not taking you in there and then having to explain to your father why I allowed you to get hurt because some monster neither of us expected popped out of the ceiling." Shepherd told her. "Look, we should be able to get out again without your help, right?"

"The seal was meant to keep unwanted people out, not in." Zelda admitted.".

"Right." He replied. "So, go home, get some sleep and we'll report back directly to you first once we're done."

Zelda could see that Shepherd wouldn't be moved. She looked to Link, and could see that the Hero was in full, if silent agreement with his friend. "We'll be fine. We always are." Link told her confidently.

She gave him a look which said, "I know better than that," but she relented. "Alright. But be careful." She told them before turning back. The last the two saw of her, she was being escorted by R.H.M.G. personnel out of the Temple complex.

The two then turned back to the open gilded wooden door and the dark interior beyond it. "Don't worry, I've been through here before." Link told him. "We'll be in and out before you know it. Sooner, if the Sage is fine."

"Okay, so let's hope he's just been feeling anti-social for the last twenty years." Shepherd said, losing hope as the words came out of his mouth. His rifle came comfortably into his hands, his finger on the trigger. He also carried a Hylian sword and shield in the uniform fashion of the R.H.M.G.

They passed through the doorway and into the darkened entry hall of the Temple of Light. The door silently swung shut behind them. Patterns of colored light danced gently across the marble floor as the silver moonlight struck the stained glass windows which had been set up high to the sides of the hall. It had its own melancholy beauty to it. It was a lot like the pictures of the sanctuaries of the great Catholic cathedrals back on Earth which Shepherd had seen, except there were no pews lining the hall, and the iconography of the stained glass was of a decidedly different faith with vastly different stories depicted. The altar at the opposite end of the hall was certainly intended for a different offering than those given at a Catholic Mass as well, as three radiant jeweled pieces had been placed over the top of it.

Link went to go and stand in front of the altar, and then he knelt on one knee in reverence. To what god or goddess he might be praying Shepherd didn't really know, given the man's unusual history and his own connection with the depictions in the stained glass. But there was something about the place that impressed its sacredness and solemnity on those who entered.

Link stood up again and rejoined Shepherd in the center of the entry hall. "For my mother; my birth mother." He told him, though Shepherd didn't ask. "And to my mother as well, I suppose." He added. Shepherd hadn't asked about his most recent birth mother before, but Link had told him that she died when he was ten. It then occurred to him that he never said anything about his father. He resolved to ask him later if it became appropriate.

Link then drew out the simple wooden flute that Colin had carved for him from a pouch at his side. He looked down at the floor to be certain of where he stood when he played. On the marble floor beneath him was inlaid a golden set of three triangles flanked by outspread wings. He then played a series of six notes.

As Shepherd heard them, he recognized the melody. It was the same six notes that both Link and Impa, the last Sage of Time whom had had grown to respect, played in order to open the doorway to the Temple of Time. "Useful tune, that." Shepherd said.

The Triangles beneath them glowed in response, and light began to flood the hall around them, though from what source they couldn't tell. Behind the altar, three doors began to open, allowing access to the rest of the Temple. But that wasn't what caught their immediate attention when the lights came on. No, what caught their attention was that many of the shadows in the hall didn't disappear.

"Link, is that supposed to happen?" Shepherd asked, knowing the answer.

"Not on a good day, no." Link said, drawing his sword and shield.

Shepherd cocked his rifle. "That's what I was afraid of."

There were a couple of dozen shadows like large black pools of ink along the floor and walls around the entry hall that had been exposed by the radiant light. When the light touched them they began to take shape and solidify into dark three dimensional figures of what looked like giant humanoid lizards armed with swords and maces. Their eyes glowed with a pale green light.

"Shadow Lizalfos?" Shepherd asked, not having seen one of the reptile men in a long, long time.

Link shrugged his shoulders non-commitally, "What difference does it make?" He replied.

"Right." Shepherd responded, and shot the closest one in the chest with his rifle. It had the immediate effect of getting its attention, but not much else. "Okay, Didn't expect that!"

The creature used its tail and whipped the rifle away from Shepherd, at which point he drew his own sword from its scabbard, the shield he had carried adorned his left arm. He had only agreed to wear them because it was part of the Guard uniform he had been given, but now he remembered the immediate practicality of the medieval weapons when dealing with the threats of this world. Tiny lead bullets don't always work against creatures born of magic. Sometimes you needed steel.

Link didn't hear Shepherd's last comment as he went to work. He hadn't even bothered with carrying a rifle this time. It was cumbersome and slowed him down. The dark lizalfo nearest him fell as the swordsman bashed his long reptile snout in with his shield and plunged his sword through its breastplate and into its chest, quickly pulling it out again. The creature fell to the ground and disappeared in a puff of black smoke. He then engaged the next one which proved to be a better fighter than the first, and lasted a little longer against the Hero until Link took off its head.

Shepherd blocked the strike of the one he'd made angry with his own shield and caught the creature in the side. It brought its tail around again and used it like a whip lashing his legs, tripping him up and dropping the human on his backside. The lizalfo took advantage of it to quickly attempt another slash at his head, but then found his own sword blocked by what looked like a huge golden skeleton key.

"Pick on someone your own size!" Cried a high pitched voice as the key swung back around slashing at the shadow across the midsection, disembowling and dropping the creature.

Shepherd looked up in disbelief to see that his rescuer wasn't the friend he walked in with having teenage troubles with his voice. Instead it was a four foot giant black mouse with a tan face, white gloves, yellow shoes and garbed in what looked like a long black leather cloak with a metal zipper up the front. "You've got to be kidding me." He exclaimed as he recognized the face and voice of their new ally all too well from movies and cartoons he'd seen or heard of all of his pre-adolescent life.

"We'll get to the introductions later!" The mouse said as he gave Shepherd his four fingered hand to help him to his feet. The man couldn't help but just stare at him as he turned back to the shadow creatures wielding his huge key weapon like a samurai master.

"You've got to be kidding me." Shepherd said again in disbelief. He then was snapped out of it by the charge of another shadow warrior whose blow he just barely got his shield raised in time to block.

"Get your head in the game, soldier!" The mouse called out to him. "We've got a lot of work to do!"

"Uh, Right!" Shepherd called back as he cleared his head and used his own sword to drop the monster.

Link took out two more, and the mouse felled four more on his own using a magic spell involving spinning blades of light that sought out the living shadows like guided missiles. The three of them began to work their way through the monsters until the last one disappeared into black smoke after it lost its head in a duel with Shepherd.

"Clear!" Shepherd called out as no more shadows appeared in the entry hall, he then went to retrieve his firearm which had landed on the floor and skidded against the north wall. "Clear!" Came Link's and the mouse's response.

"Now, time for me to properly introduce myself." The mouse began turning around to offer his hand to shake. "I'm..."

"Mickey Mouse." Shepherd finished for him, staring at the mouse's free hand as though he didn't know what to do with it.

"Why yes!" Mickey said. "You know of me?" His left hand was still extended, and Shepherd finally took it, shaking it gingerly before pulling back, thoroughly weirded out by the experience. Link shook the mouse's hand in a friendly but confused manner as well.

"Uh... yeah. I've heard of you somewhere before." He said trying to remain nonchalant and cool about the absurd situation he had just found himself in. "Uh, what are you doing here?"

Mickey's expression turned very serious and troubled. It was a look on the mouse's face which Shepherd had honestly never seen him drawn with in all of his childhood or adult life watching images of the Disney figure. "I have to find someone; a sorceress who entered your world recently. She and I have the same enemy, an evil man name Xehanort. He's committed a horrible number of crimes in our realms and has to be stopped and brought to justice. I traced her here, and she was tracking him. If she traced him here, then he's going to be a very serious threat to your realm too." Mickey's tone of voice had become all business.

"He's here, and he's already a threat." Link told the mouse. "The sorceress is gone."

"Gone? Where? How?" The mouse asked, and Shepherd and Link explained the story as quickly as they could. When they finished, Mickey nodded and smiled, "I'm glad your friend was able to do that for her. She's been in such pain for so long. That's why she was hurting people before. I hope she's able to make things right with Aurora. So, what are your names?"

"I'm John Shepherd, and this is Link Faroson." Shepherd told him, feeling like he was in some kind of a weird hallucination.

"How did you enter the Temple? No one but the royal family or the Temple's Sage can unseal the door." Link asked.

"I used my keyblade." Mickey said, holding it up for them to see. "I can unlock any door with it, even the doors between worlds, or the door to a person's heart." He then looked at the sword in Link's hand, "But you know that already, don't you keyblade master Link?" He said, gesturing to the Master Sword.

"What do you mean?" Link asked, looking at the sword he had carried in every lifetime he had lived. He knew from his deep memories that it had originally been crafted by Hylia long ago on Atlantis before their exile to Hyrule had become permanent, and he knew it was a _lamna clavia_, a keyblade for accessing the Sacred Realm, but he had never known any property of the Master Sword giving it the ability to open any other lock.

The mouse eyed the blue and silver sword critically, but said nothing as he did so. "We may need to talk later." He finally told him. "It could be very important. But for right now, we need to find Xehanort and stop him. I came here because I thought this is where he would be most drawn to."

"Look, uh, Mickey," Shepherd was trying to make the best of the situation, "uh, we're in here trying to figure out what might have happened to the Sage of Light. He's kind of like a religious sorcerer or wizard that guards the Temple and prays to his god all the time. The palace and another Sage we _can_ talk to have lost contact with him. That fact that he didn't show up when we turned on the lights tells us something's wrong. Do you have any ideas as to whether or not Xehanort might be behind it?" Shepherd asked, still trying to accept the fact that he just asked Mickey Mouse a serious question upon which answer the fate of the world might rest.

"Would he be a person in whose heart there is no darkness?" The mouse asked sincerely.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he would." Shepherd responded, looking at Link questioningly. Link nodded in agreement.

"Then we need to try and find him quickly, or else he's going to be in serious, serious danger. Xehanort will try and use his heart along with several others to open the doorway to Kingdom Hearts. The fact there were heartless in here already tells me we might be too late, but we need to try." The mouse told them. "I'm going with you." He said with high pitched determination.

"Looks like it's going to be that kind of a mission. Welcome aboard." Shepherd said graciously.

"Thank you!" The mouse said cheerfully. "Okay, let's go!" He then looked at the three open doorways and asked, "uh, which way?"

"The Sage's residence is on the south side of the Temple in the rectory, we should check there first." Link said. "So we go through the door to our right." Link said, pointing with his sword. Mickey, keyblade in hand, led the way.

"So, where did you know him from? Another video game?" Link asked Shepherd, whispering.

"I really don't want to talk about it. And whatever you do, don't tell Rodney about this if we can help it." Shepherd told him.

Link nodded in understanding. "To be honest, it's kind of weird even for me."

After he had thought Bill and Daniel had gone to bed that night, Rodney was still awake and working on his own project to assist in the defense of Castleton against the expected invasion. "Learn to play the game by its own rules." He kept repeating to himself. He and Shepherd had discussed it after his meeting in the war room.

"How many people are in this city would you guess?" Shepherd had asked him.

"I don't know. It's obviously grown a lot in two hundred years. I'd estimate around half a million just from what we've seen, minimum." Rodney had answered.

"And probably more. From my understanding there are several large cities, but from a military standpoint, Castleton would be the one with the biggest target painted on it, wouldn't you say?" He asked.

"Yeah, most likely with the main armory and military complex here," Rodney answered, "Where are you going with this?"

"What happens to the civilian population if there's an aerial assault?" Shepherd wondered aloud. "There's a lot of innocent people in this city who would be hurt."

"So what are we talking about then? You're worried about bombers aren't you?" Rodney's mind went into gear.

"Bombers and other aircraft which could drop uninvited guests or unwanted presents, yeah." Shepherd answered. "There doesn't seem to be any good places set up to protect the population in that kind of a campaign, and we can't just announce an evacuation based on what I would do in the enemy's position. And in the event of a bombing campaign there would be no time. So I'm asking you, with everything we now know about Ancient tech and Hyrule's combination of tech and magic, is there anything we can do to secure the city from a potential bombing raid?"

Rodney had started going through the possibilities in his mind. "How much time do you think we've got?"

"If I was them, not much. A day or two more at most. They just declared war yesterday, so they've probably already got their forces geared up and just waiting for the word." Shepherd had said.

"Okay, give me a couple of hours, and I'll eventually need the manpower to set something up." Rodney had told him.

"You've got something in mind?" Shepherd asked hopefully.

"Yeah, maybe. It's a long-shot, and I don't know if we can fulfill the power requirements, but... yeah, maybe." Rodney said, already going through the calculations in his mind. "I'll need to work with the castle magicians to iron out the details though."

"I'll send some your way." Shepherd told him, somewhat impressed that Rodney would even consider Hylian magic in his calculations.

"And I'll need a lab space to work. I think they turned my old one into a library or something." Rodney said.

"It's been two hundred and thirty years, you can't expect them to just keep it set up for you." Shepherd replied. "I'll have them clear some space for you."

"Good." Rodney said, happy to have something useful and even challenging to do after being forced to learn more about Bill Lee's Disney video games than he ever wanted to know.

Now, three hours after that conversation, he wondered if he had finally promised something that was actually impossible as he went over the factors with three of the castle magicians who weren't particularly happy about being kept up this late at night.

"The magic doesn't work like that!" Afredo, a blond bearded man in a white lab coat with spectacles kept telling him, and Rodney would have to patiently try and work around his objections. The other men, an older man with a more open mind and his lab assistant apprentice were more willing to try and make the magic work the way he wanted it to, but even they were having trouble following his lines of reasoning.

"So what do we need then to make it work like that?" He asked. "Do we need more crystals, a bigger power source, what? Don't tell me what I can't do, tell me what I can do!"

The thing that really frustrated him was that he knew he was out of his element. If magic was a science like physics, it had its own logic to it that Rodney just couldn't fathom, but he needed to in order to deliver what he told Shepherd might be able to be done.

"We need more crystals, and we just don't have enough to fix a perimeter around the whole city like what you're suggesting. It's never been done before." Afredo told him. "The whole thing is too theoretical. There hasn't been open conflict between the east and west for over fifty years. Why would we even need to consider these kinds of measures?"

"Hello? Mr. Wizard! Anyone home? Excuse me, genius, but a hostile nation doesn't go and declare war and then sit on its hands and drink tea, now does it." Rodney said, the sarcasm dripping from his voice. "I didn't ask if it had been done before, I asked what we needed to do it." Rodney retorted. "I thought magical barriers like this had been raised over Hyrule Castle before."

"According to legend, yes. But then it was by powerful sorcerers with the aid of a part of the Triforce. We don't have that resource at our disposal." The older man, Rodney thought his name was something like Phil maybe, told him in a more reasoned tone of voice.

"Yeah, well we don't happen to have one of those at our disposal." He said bitterly, still stinging from the three that had been dropped into his lap disappearing without a trace. "Believe me, I wish we did, but the only people who have access to it aren't going to go there for something as small as a little war among mortals. It's meant for frying much bigger fish."

"Perhaps we don't need more crystals, but bigger ones at set points. And perhaps we can bring the perimeter in a bit, not covering the whole city area but let's say bring it down to here." Phil pointed out a halfway point on the map where the city became more densely packed. "If we could evacuate the population to within this area, then maybe we could do it. And we could, theoretically, tie the system into our time-shift power grid. It might cause a blackout in the city, but it also might give it enough power to work for more than the few minutes a normal spell of this kind does. Maybe up to an hour?"

Rodney pushed aside his annoyance with Afredo and began working it over in his head. "Yeah, that just might work. Let's crunch the numbers again, and if they look good, we'll call the boys in gray and get started setting it up."

"Tonight?" Afredo complained. "It's after midnight, Doctor McKay!"

"Yes. Yes it is. And if bombers start flying at dawn or enemy troops start parachuting down I'll just direct them towards your house first for an early morning wake up call." Rodney said sarcastically. "So, still feeling tired? No? Good. Then let's get back to work."

Shepherd, Link and Mickey had been searching the residence, and most of the outlying rooms of the Temple for two hours, running into more stray shadow creatures as they went from chamber to chamber. These were dispatched as soon as they were discovered. There was no sign of the Sage of Light. The only room in the complex left for them to search was the Sanctum, except they had no way of entering because the key was still hidden somewhere in the Temple.

They came to stand in front of the chamber. It wasn't difficult for them to reach, it was right through the center door from the entry hall, and down a short tunnel. "This is the sanctum entrance," Link said, trying to forget the experience of the last time he had to enter hundreds of years ago. It was an unpleasant experience involving a giant armored spider thing, one of the Demon King's pets. "It's sealed tight." He said, looking at the door, and feeling the oddly shaped lock with his hand.

"So, how do we open the door? We searched everywhere in this place and didn't find the key for it." Shepherd asked, looking at the imposing set of gold doors. "What if he took the key inside it with him?"

"Why would he do that?" Link asked. "Why would he lock himself in?"

Mickey, while listening, had been studying the door lock. "Let me try." He said, and he pointed his keyblade at the door. The lock on the door began to change shape until it grew and resembled something big enough for the massive key to fit within. He inserted the keyblade and turned it. The door opened inwards.

"I wish I had known how to do that trick with the Master Sword before." Link said, impressed. "It would have saved me a lot of trouble in the past."

"Didn't anyone teach you how to use your keyblade?" Mickey asked. "I had a master teach me and had to pass an exam."

"No. I've always had to figure it out as I went." Link said, sword in hand scanning the scene which presented itself through the open doorway, trying to understand what he was looking at as the three entered the doorway, blades at hand.

They came into a circular stone room lined with pillars that stood around the circumference. As elsewhere in the Temple, golden light glowed within the room from no discernible source. In the center of the room was a small pedestal with an indentation similar to the much larger one in the Temple of Time where normally rested the Master Sword. Arranged around the pedestal in a circle were the seals symbolizing the different elements represented by the Temples and their Sages. That part of the room was painfully familiar to Link as the mistake he and Zelda had made as children many lifetimes ago had caused the ruin of their world; a ruin that took seven years to repair. It was the figure dressed in red and gold robes suspended above it that was new to his considerable experience.

"Is that the Sage of Light?" Mickey asked, looking at him strangely, as if trying to see through him.

"I think so. I've only seen a picture of him once in school a couple of years ago from when the King was crowned before I was born... uh, reborn." Link replied. "He looks about twenty or thirty years older than in the film of the coronation, though."

The portly Hylian man was suspended in mid air, though there was no discernible means for him to be so. His long hair had turned mostly white from what might have originally been a light brown. His face held a brown beard with streaks of white. His eyes were closed as if in sleep.

"What's wrong with him?" Shepherd asked, not seeing anything else in the room to explain the Sage's condition.

"I don't know." Link said. "The only thing this reminds me of is this one time when Ganondorf held Zelda prisoner in a similar way."

"And how did that turn out?" Mickey asked, still eyeing the Sage, trying to understand what he thought he was sensing.

"Not well. He possessed her body and used her to try and kill me. I still have nightmares about it." Link said matter-of-factly. "Among other things."

Shepherd couldn't even imagine what Link must have gone through that time. He'd only been married once, and that ended badly all by itself. Sure, there'd been other women, but nothing like the relationship Link had with the princess.

"I don't know what I would have done if it had been Minnie." Mickey empathized. "I've had a lot of friends hurt, but Minnie's always been protected from that kind of evil. Although Xehanort did use a good friend of mine like that. It took a long time for him to recover from it. I'm so glad now that Riku's free of him."

"It's been about par for my life." Link said as he studied the man too. "There doesn't seem to be any depth to which evil men won't sink to try and get what they want. Oddly enough, growing up this time in Ordonville has been the closest thing I've had to a normal life in hundreds of life-times."

"No, there certainly doesn't." Mickey agreed with him knowingly.

"Look at that." Mickey finally pointed at the man. "Do you see it?"

"See what?" Shepherd asked, not sure what the mouse was pointing at.

"It's barely perceptible, but it's there. A thin line of darkness is just above his head and wrapping around his body. I think it's what's suspending him above the floor. We'll need to somehow cut it to get him down." Mickey told them. "Maybe if we just try and dispel some of it?"

Link looked hard and just barely saw the translucent shadow that Mickey had pointed out. "Let me try something." He pointed the tip of his blade towards the ceiling. The Master Sword began to glow with a white radiant light, he then pointed it at where he thought the line was and released the built up energy within it. A wave of radiant bright energy flew from the blade and cut straight through the line of darkness, dispelling the tether and dropping the man to the stone floor.

They went to his side as he hit. The man's eyes blinked open, and he asked, "Where? Where am I?"

"You're in the Sanctum of the Temple of Light, your grace. You were sealed inside." Link answered, trying to help him up.

"Yes, yes, I am aren't I?" The man said, then his eyes fell on the open door. "You opened the door, how?"

Mickey came around and was about to explain, but then he looked into his eyes. "Uh, fellas? What color are the Sage's eyes normally?" He asked aloud, seeing his gold colored eyes with bright yellow highlights.

Then the man dropped all pretense and tried to make a dash for the door, but Shepherd blocked his way with a sword and shield. The man then struck the ground with his fist and a wave of darkness came pulsing at them, knocking Shepherd off of his feet. Link reacted on instinct and sommersaulted high above the wave while Mickey jumped over it and rolled coming up on his feet again in front of the combative Sage.

"YOU!" The Sage roared, darkness swirling around him, recognizing the mouse. "How could you have found me here?!" He yelled.

"You know how to drive out the darkness don't you Xehanort?!" Mickey shouted back. "You turn up the light!" And he pointed his keyblade at the man's chest. A beam of pure light shot from the end of the key and struck the man in the heart. "Link, back me up!" Mickey cried out.

Link saw what Mickey was trying to do and thought he understood. He raised the Master Sword to the sky again, and then pointed the tip, aiming for the center of the man's chest. Once more a wave of light was unleashed and slammed into the man. The portly man screamed an unearthly scream and fell to the ground.

Before the other two realized what he was going to do, Mickey took the opportunity to plunge the end of his key into the man's chest like he was inserting it into a lock, and then somehow he turned it. The darkness which now surrounded the Sage like a cloud dissipated and then was gone. His eyes changed their color to a deep blue. The mouse pulled the key out of the man's chest, leaving no marks or indications that he had ever been impaled at all.

Shepherd got back up to his feet. I will never disrespect that mouse again, he thought to himself as he watched the scene unfold. "Where'd you learn to do that?" He asked Mickey.

"Years of practice unfortunately." The mouse responded.

"The Hero?" The Sage asked as he looked upon Link as though he was just coming to his senses. "No, that's not right. You're not supposed to be here. You and my Lady were done with your tasks." He said.

"Obviously not." Link replied, more tired than he realized. "What happened?"

"There was a dark presence," The Sage began. "I felt it coming. I felt the power of it, it spoke to me, called out to the evil in my own heart. I recognized the danger I was in from the darkness in my own heart and sealed myself in here, in the Sanctum, but somehow the dark presence broke through the seal and found me here. It invaded my mind and heart, but trapped within my body it couldn't leave. For, for a long time I fought against it as it studied my mind, tempted me, taunted me. It was a living nightmare, eventually it broke through."

"Broke through to what?" Shepherd asked.

"It wanted to know about the Sacred Realm, and the Master Sword. It wanted to know about something called 'Kingdom Hearts,' but I had never heard of it. And then the Sacred Realm flashed into my mind, and it seized on that. It wanted to know everything about it. It wanted to know where the entry point was and how to enter the Sacred Realm. It wanted to know about the Triforce. I couldn't stop it, it took the information from my mind. He took it just like he took control of me." The portly man began to weep. "I couldn't stop him, after... after so long he got what he wanted."

"He knows how to enter the Sacred Realm?" Link asked.

"Yes." The Sage of Light answers. "Goddesses forgive me, I told him everything." And his tears flowed freely as he began to sob.

Chapter 5

Russel had reported to the red brick Ordonville barracks as ordered, riding up on his horse Xavier. In any other town it might have been considered an unusual mode of transportation, but not in Ordonville, and he wasn't the only old-timer who arrived with such transportation. There were a few dozen horses tied up just outside of the Guard command post that didn't have strictly R.H.M.G. regulation saddles. It was just a pale reflection of how many Ordonians had served in his majesty's Guard as cavalrymen over the past several decades, being able to patrol rough terrain where motorized vehicles couldn't go. Several of them still had their owners riding up and dismounting, among them was a face from Russel's past.

"Claude?" He asked the other horseback rider in the gray cavalry uniform as he pulled up alongside him. "Claude Mason?"

"Hey, Russel!" Claude said, slapping the other man on the back. "Haven't seen you since the last unit reunion, what, ten years ago?"

"Something like that." Russel said. They both dismounted, and removed their helmets. "I've been busy, raising the family, feeding the livestock, that kind of thing."

"Yeah." Claude said. "Your boy came through my inn up across the gorge a few nights past. Good lad that one. You did well raising him for Sara. She'd be proud of the man he's become."

"I hope so." Russel replied non-commitally as they walked through the reinforced metal doors of the barracks. "I've been wondering if letting him go was the right thing, now, with all the trouble it's caused."

"Rubbish," Claude said, "Look at what the boy did! You can't stop a man from his destiny, and we don't always get to choose the consequences of that destiny for ourselves or anyone else, Russ; especially not that one. You can't blame him for what everyone else does with it. He's got to be who he is, just like you and I have to be who we are; the best damned cavalrymen in the whole of Ordon."

"The whole of Hyrule, you mean." Russel picked up on the old inside joke. "I don't think these new boys they're turning out in Castleton know which way to get on the horse."

Inside, they were directed straight back to the large yard outside behind the building where the barracks' patrol and response vehicles were kept. They were met by a few hundred of their fellow Guardsmen, many of them were much younger than Russel and Claude, but there were almost as many men with gray in their hair and mustaches with out of style uniforms as there were younger men reporting in from the reserves.

"Looks like all the rest of us old-timers in Ordonville and surrounding showed up for the party too." Claude observed. He then spied a group of almost a dozen Ordonian men wearing cavalry uniforms from decades ago, similar to theirs. "And there's our boys."

The two moved over to join their old unit. A younger officer, a lieutenant by the look of him, was taking down information from them. Russel walked up and presented him, "Lieutenant Captain Russel Swordsmith, acting commanding officer, 3rd Cavalry Ordon Province, reporting for duty as requested sir."

The young officer heard the name and looked up from his paperwork, "Lieutenant Captain Swordsmith, sir." He addressed him. He was a blond Hylian kid, fresh out of officer's training by the look of him. "It's an honor." He said.

"The king called, I answered." Russel said flatly. He had never needed anyone to be honored by his presence. "Do we have deployment orders yet?"

"Yes, if your unit's complete." The officer told him, checking his paperwork. "We need cavalry for special assignment to a command post in Faron Woods."

"There is no command post in Faron Woods, lad. It's too enchanted, everyone knows that. Not safe for anyone." Claude told him. "That's why highway one goes around it and not through it."

"The post is on a need to know basis by king's orders." The officer said. "I was just told about it myself about half an hour ago. "Your experience on horseback will be an asset in getting there and augmenting the existing guard units already posted."

"When do we leave?" Russel asked.

"If you and your mounts are all ready to ride, as soon as you sign here that you've received your orders and accepted re-enlistment for the duration of active hostilities between the United Kingdom of Hyrule and the Republic of Hyrule, sir. It'll take several hours to reach, even on horseback. It's now eight o'clock. You're asked to be in position by dawn."

"Alright boys, everyone else sign the man's papers?" Russel asked.

"Yes, sir." They all affirmed.

Russel then signed his own name in large Hylian letters, followed by Claude. "3rd Cavalry Unit, Ordon Province, mount up!" He commanded.

"Look, Mickey," Shepherd started, trying to figure out how to say this, "some of the people we're with, they may not understand or react well to uh,... to seeing you uh..." He gestured to all of the mouse, still not sure as to how to explain the problem without sounding like a jerk.

Mickey stood there smiling, waiting for him to finish his explanation. Seeing Shepherd's difficulty, Link took over, "What he means to say, is that some of our people have also heard of you and may be so distracted by seeing you they can't concentrate on what they're supposed to be doing."

"Right!" Shepherd agreed, nodding a thank you towards Link.

"Oh, right." Mickey replied. "I think I understand." He drew his black leather hood over his head and then vanished. "Don't worry, I'm still here. It's just a spell. If you need me, I'll be right near by," said a high pitched disembodied voice.

They had returned the broken Sage to his residence to get some real sleep. Shepherd had thought maybe they should take him back to the palace to get some medical help or at least some counseling, but Link advised against it. "What regular mortal counselor is going to know how to help him recover from this?" He asked. "Let him get some real sleep tonight, and we'll contact the Sage of Time in the morning. He'll know more about how to help him through it."

Neither Shepherd nor Mickey could disagree with his logic, but the military commander was still a bit uneasy. "I still don't want to leave him alone by himself right now. Not after what the guy has been through." He said. As he pulled on the main door, it slid open easily. He called out to the nearest guardsman he could see, an older Hylian man. "Guardsman, come here."

The man came rushing over, "Yes, sir?"

"The Sage of Time is back in his residence asleep, but I don't really want him by himself right now. I want you to go and stand guard in his residence while he sleeps. He's been through a lot, and he was pretty out of it and shaken up when we found him. You don't have to stand over his bed, but just be nearby when he wakes up. Keep your sword handy as well. We're pretty sure we got all the shadow creatures we found, but just keep your eyes open." Shepherd instructed him.

"Shadow creatures, sir?" The guardsman asked nervously.

"You'll know it if one's there. The residence is through the doorway to your right and down the hall." Shepherd told him.

"Yes, sir." The guardsman said, he then noticed the four foot mouse in the black leather robe, and quickly glanced away.

"He's with us." Link told him.

"Understood, sir. Anything further?" The guardsman asked.

"Nope, just keep an eye on our friend back there." Shepherd said.

The guardsman nodded then moved off to carry out his instructions. They could hear the sound of his footfalls slowly fading as he moved deeper into the Temple.

Mickey pulled his hood over his head just as they exited the main entry doors of the Temple, and all the guards who observed them coming out saw was the two men exiting that had entered, exhausted, but seeming no worse the wear.

"I need a good cup of coffee." Shepherd said out loud as they passed between the two pools. "Strong tea would be welcome." Link agreed. Their invisible companion remained silent on the subject, but Shepherd made a mental note to try and make sure he didn't get forgotten, invisible or not, when the tea pot got passed around. He really wished coffee grew in Hyrule for days like this.

He still had to report to Zelda, and check on Rodney's progress on his secret project. He also had to check in with the war room and get an update on enemy movements. Link would be joining him for all of it, he knew, and he suspected the mouse wouldn't be far behind. Heck, after his performance in the Temple, Shepherd could even be glad of that, weird or not.

"General, sir." A guardsman flagged him down, running up to him. "Guard command has requested yours and Supreme Commander Link's presence in the war room immediately. They said it was urgent."

"Okay, we were headed that way anyway." Shepherd told him. "They didn't happen to mention what they wanted at," he checked his watch, "three o'clock in the morning, did they?"

"No sir," the guardsman replied, "It was your eyes and above only."

"Oh boy." He responded. "I guess we stop in the war room first then."

"I have a car waiting, sir." The guardsman said.

"Lead the way." Link told him, gesturing. He discreetly motioned behind him for Mickey to follow.

Rodney, being up on a ladder, had his hands in the innards of a Castleton street lamp, replacing the incandescent bulb with something a little more exotic. "Alright, a little adjustment here, and... voila! It's connected. Now, let's see if it will accept the juice without blowing up or something." He said as he connected the voltage lines to the small blue crystal and restored the flow of power. The crystal glowed with a tiny sapphire light, but nothing more interesting, or disastrous, happened.

"Good. Very good. So far, so good." Rodney said, monitoring it for a few more minutes. "So, one down, uh..." he checked his calculations again, "two hundred to go." He said with a yawn. "Okay, stay focused, McKay."

He climbed down the ladder, and packed up his equipment. At two other points in the city, Phil and Afredo were performing the exact same procedure. He listened on the radio as the two wizards reported in their successes with the experimental installations.

"Okay, Corporal," he said to the Guard driver, "Next street light down the block." They would be working all the rest of the night, he knew, but once they were done, if it worked as he hoped it would, it would be worth it.

It had been Afredo's idea actually to use the existing street lamps along the circumference that Phil had drawn out as emitters. All they really needed for it to work was to plug the tiny blue crystals into a power source, and set them all off at once with the right spell. The city's power grid would do the rest. The biggest downside was that they couldn't test it until they needed it. By Rodney's calculations, it wouldn't even be finished at this rate until six o'clock in the morning, right when the sun came up.

"Shepherd to McKay." Came Shepherd's voice over the two way radio.

"Yeah, go for McKay." Rodney asnwered with another yawn.

"Rodney what's the status on that project we talked about?" Shepherd asked.

"Uh, I just installed the first emitter about a minute ago, Afredo and Phil should have their first ones up too, so I'm thinking around six-ish or so. Are we in a hurry?" He asked, not really wanting an honest answer.

"That'll be pushing it, but I guess it'll do. Supreme Command just got word from coastal radar and satellite observation. The eastern Republic launched about five dozen assault gyrocopters half an hour before I got here. They'll be over the field and Castleton by six. We need to have it up and running preferably before they get here." Shepherd told him.

"You're just trying to pressure me to work harder, aren't you?" Rodney asked sarcastically. "Oh, let's put Rodney under the threat of death again."

"Just get it done McKay. Dawn's coming faster than we want it to today. Shepherd out." Shepherd told him.

McKay's vehicle stopped at the next street lamp. "Okay, let's do this." He said, getting out and putting the ladder into place again.

Just then a loud wail began across the city, and an even louder mature female voice called out from an unseen source. "All civilians, by royal order please relocate on foot to the Castleton city center for your own safety. This is not drill. All civilians, by royal order please relocate on foot to the Castleton city center for your own safety. This is not a drill."

Lights came on all over what had been a dark neighborhood around Rodney, as dogs started barking, and people began moving about in confusion. Within minutes, people came pouring out of their apartment buildings and homes, some of them still in their nightclothes, all of them headed deeper into the city towards Old Castle Town. "Oh that's just great, John!" He said in exasperation while he replaced the next bulb. "Clog the streets while I've got to get around the city quickly!" He started working faster, knowing that if he didn't get it done, the middle of the city would be the worst place for anyone to be.

Link had left Shepherd in the Supreme Command war room after learning of the now definite invasion. Most of the Guardsmen which had been stationed in Castleton had been re-deployed to Hyrule field where it was calculated that the bulk of the invading force would land. The retired Guardsmen from the city and the surrounding villages who had answered the call up that night, and there were many, were now being used to direct the crowds and augment the internal city and palace defenses.

Shepherd's place had naturally been in the war room, directing the defenses. He was a natural military strategist and had more experience with warfare than Hyrule's own native generals had in the last several decades. But Link's place, in spite of his own considerable experience, was with his majesty and the princess. They had their own bodyguards it was true, but none of them could match Link's fighting skills, and Shepherd agreed. Link's place was guarding the royal family from a direct attack on the palace. Link didn't know exactly where Mickey had gone, the mouse had been quiet as a... well, a mouse since they left the Temple of Light.

His majesty and her highness had been in their own apartments, asleep in the east wing of the palace when Link and Shepherd had returned. At least that was the last place they were supposed to be, so that was where Link had headed.

When he arrived, he was surprised to find both king and princess awake and dressed. His majesty wore the suit of clothes he had on from earlier in that day without the jacket as well as his crown. Zelda wore tan ladies' trousers, riding boots, and a modest pink blouse with silver highlights. A thin diadem of gold sat atop her brow. His majesty's suit now bore the additional accessory of a sizable sword strapped to his back, and a very noticeable black colored pistol sidearm holstered at his left breast.

"Your majesty, I came to see you and the princess to safety. There are rooms in the old dungeons deep below where I can take you where no one can reach you." Link told the older man.

The king looked him in the eye and said, "I'm not going anywhere, my son. Not while my kingdom is threatened."

Link looked to Zelda, hoping that she might talk some sense into her father, but she slowly shook her head, "Our place is with our people." She said, "Not hiding in a hole. They need to see us standing strong. How can they have courage if we hide like cowards?" She asked.

Link couldn't argue, but he did say adamantly, "Then I'm still staying with you."

"Good. You can lead us into the center of Old Castle Town so that we can be visible to the people and encourage them." His majesty told him.

Link had a really bad feeling about the king's plans, but he couldn't contradict the man. "Okay, then let's go."

A command post of sorts had been set up in front of the fountain in the center of Old Castle Town. Retired Guardsmen that had been recalled surrounded the town square on foot and on horseback to oversee security. Royal Family Protection agents in their black suits were everywhere among the crowd of people that flooded into the walls of the Old Town trying to weed out the adults who had successfully sneaked past the guards at the gates.

All of the children of the city had been carefully taken into the Old Town behind the ancient walls where it was thought they might be safer, while their parents and other adults had been asked to stay outside. There was no room for all of the hundreds of thousands of people behind the portcullises and drawbridges that someone in the royal family had had the foresight to maintain in working order and even upgrade for all of those centuries. It wasn't well known among the people, but the walls and gates had been regularly enchanted and fortified to withstand the pounding of artillery fire.

It was cold and damp at that hour of the morning. The sun still hadn't risen, and there were children in the square who hadn't brought blankets, or some of them even proper coats. The Princess had quickly seen to it that every one of them received something to stay warm with, as well as warm drinks. She stood near by the fountain telling stories of the ancient legends through a microphone and speakers which had been brought in. Those children, Hylian, Goron, Ordonian, and even a few Zora here and there who were awake to hear it were wide eyed at the way she told them as though she herself had personally been there. There were so many children filling the streets and sidewalks of the Old Town that the pavement could barely be seen for the small bodies sitting, standing, or lying down.

King Daphnes worked near the fountain as well trying to coordinate the city's guard response. He knew there were other men who could do the task, but it was his city and his people, and he wanted them to know he was with them in this.

Link stood in position in between Zelda and the king trying to keep an eye on both. They promised him they wouldn't allow themselves to be too far away from him if things really got bad. So far, it had just been a big impromptu children's slumber party hosted by the royal family as far as the Hero could see, but he hadn't been outside the walls. He knew there would have to be panicked people out there.

It was an hour until dawn, and the sky was already starting to get a little lighter. The children were getting tired, and many were asleep as Zelda continued to talk, sipping from a strong cup of tea. Then, Link's sharp ears began to pick up what sounded like the distant buzzing of bees; lots and lots of bees.

"Here we go." Link whispered to himself, knowing what the buzzing sound portended.

Zelda continued to talk until the buzzing sound grew louder, and then her voice died away as she looked to the sky. Link looked too, but could make anything out yet.

Then there was a great flash of energy like lightning several feet in front of Link. When the smoke had cleared from the strike, there was an older, bald man with a long gray goatee and yellow eyes standing there, dressed in a black leather robe similar to the one Mickey had been wearing. In his right hand was a wicked looking black weapon that had the vaguest resemblance to an old key. The old man fixed his eyes on Link and grinned.

There were a number of sleeping children in between the old man and Link. The old man flicked the fingers of his left hand and they were roughly pushed across the cobblestones of the street to the sides, creating a pathway. The old man began to walk slowly towards the Hero. Link drew his sword and shield, though he worried about all the children around them that might get caught in between them. This isn't the right place for this! He thought.

"Finally," The old man said, gazing at the Master Sword in Link's hand, "after so many years of searching and trying to recreate it from scratch, here it is. The Chi-Blade. The true Chi-Blade." He sounded almost giddy with excitement. "And a young new body to wield it for me." He smiled evilly.

"Xehanort I presume." Link said, unimpressed. "You're not welcome here."

"Oh? How rude of me." He laughed. "Well, then I'll just take what I came for and go."

Well that's enough conversation, Link thought to himself, and launched himself into the air to deliver a strike to the old man's head. But the old man raised his hand and Link froze in mid air. He then snapped his fingers and the Hero fell to the ground hard. Unwilling to stay down, Link jumped back to his feet and spun himself up to deliver a forceful strike to the old man, but he blocked it with his own weapon easily. Link came at him again and again from every angle he knew, spinning and vaulting around him and the man managed to catch every blow of his sword with his own key shaped blade. Link raised the Master Sword high to charge it and the man took advantage of the slight pause in his attacks to hit him in the stomach with the blunt side of his own weapon, knocking the wind out of him. The old man then kicked Link to the ground and batted the Master Sword from his hand. He gestured with his hand and the sacred blade flew into it.

"Identity unrecognized!" Came the mechanized female voice of Fi, the intelligent spirit of the blade as the hilt began to heat up in Xehanort's hand. "Oh really?" The old man cackled, and ice began to cover the hilt. Fi's scream could be heard across the town's square. "Now you will recognize your true master." He told the sword.

He then turned his attention back to Link, "And now for my new, younger body. I think I will enjoy being a teenager again." He said gleefully as he moved to stand over Link, his own keyblade in his right hand, and the Master Sword in his left. He raised the Master Sword with its point aimed at Link's heart and moved to drive it into Link's body.

But then there was a flash of movement and some large bulk got in the way as red blood began to spill from the wound which had been opened up in his majesty's chest. "Not my... not my..." The king struggled to finish his sentence, his blue eyes defiant against the evil man.

Xehanort felt a stab of pain in his own side and found the king's sword had found its own mark. The wound was painful, but not fatal. Xehanort cried out from the pain, raging at the muscular man who had gotten in his way.

"DADDY!" Zelda screamed at the sight of her father impaled upon the blade of evil's bane by an evil man. "NO!"

Careful Gunfire lit up around Xehanort as the Guardsmen who had been watching the whole thing finally took the shots they thought they could. They had held off because of fear of hitting his majesty, Link, or the children surrounding them, but they couldn't take the chance not to now. But it was to no avail, the bullets stopped of their own accord within inches of Xehanort, and none of them touched him.

Xehanort unsheathed the sword from the King's chest and slid his majesty's body onto the ground next to the Hero's form, Link tried to get up, to roll over, to do anything, but he couldn't, he was pinned by some unseen force. The life drained out of the king's eyes as he lay there bleeding on the ground, and then he exhaled his last breath.

"Noble, but useless." Xehanort said slowly. "I will rip your soul from that body and cast it into oblivion, boy. Then it will become the new vessel for my own dark soul, and with it I shall awaken and spread the darkness across all worlds!"

Once again, Xehanort raised the Master Sword and began its downward plunge into Link's immobilized form. And then it was blocked again by the flash of something gold. A golden key shaped weapon stood between Xehanort and his prey.

"Not today, Xehanort. It's over!" Mickey shouted as he went on the attack against his taller opponent.

"It is for you, mouse!" Xehanort shouted back as he wielded the two blades against the four foot swordsmouse. Then he felt the sting of pure light hit his shoulder. "What is this?!" he cried out in pain. And then he looked up. He then experienced an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time. It was pure terror.

Standing over Link's form was the form of a young woman with pointed ears, long hair that seemed to be made of pure, golden, radiant light. In the twilight of dawn, she shone like a new born sun. Her eyes, completely filled with radiant light were filled with tears of sunlight, and in her hands was a golden bow with an arrow knocked and drawn and aimed directly at him.

Beneath her protective stance, Link couldn't believe what he was saying, "The rules, Zelda..." he said weakly, "We can't... You can't interfere like this... Not like this..."

The second arrow was let fly, and a third one was knocked. Xehanort couldn't stop the arrow as it hit him in the chest and dropped him to his knees. "No!" He screamed. "I will not be denied! All things must return to the darkness!" He shouted. Another arrow struck him, and a fourth was knocked and the bow was drawn again.

"I have what I came for," he said in defeat. He crossed the two weapons in his hands and disappeared in a great plume of smoke.

Zelda lowered her bow and arrow, tears of light falling to the ground as she knelt over the body of her fallen father. "I can't..." She whimpered. "I can't bring you back daddy, I'm sorry. I've already gone too far." She wept bitterly.

"You... you broke the rules." Link said, still barely able to rise. "We have... we have to do this as mortals." he said weakly.

Mickey's mouth had been hanging open as he gazed upon the wonderful, beautiful angel of light before him, his hands hanging down at his side, the end of the keyblade resting on the ground. He had never seen anything, or anyone more radiant and beautiful as this... as this goddess was in all of his life. It broke his heart bitterly to see her in pain or upset, and it made him angry that once again Xehanort had hurt good people. He finally heard Link's whispered protests and snapped himself out of it. He ran to the fallen Hero's side to give him whatever aid he could. "I'm sorry pal," he said sincerely, "I should have reacted sooner. I was across the town square with some of the children telling them some of my own stories."

Mickey looked his friend over, and didn't like what he saw. In the middle of Link's stomach was a sickly dark bruise that seemed to ooze darkness like a poison trying to infect Link's body. "Uh, your highness, uh, no that's not right... your gloriousness... uh, oh, Zelda!" He called out to the light filled princess.

Zelda looked up to see who was calling her and saw the funny looking large black mouse waving her over to her fallen beloved. She wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her blouse, and stood up. As she did she looked upon the faces of everyone in the square. Television cameras which had been set up around the square to televise anything of importance that went on or needed to be addressed to the nation were now pointed at her. Children were crying in fear. Those adults that were in the square were on their knees in adoration, their faces bowed low to the ground in humility. I didn't want any of this, she thought to herself. I never wanted any of this. She could feel the energy of their belief in her flowing into her being. She hadn't fully ascended, but had called upon all the power she could while remaining in the physical world, and it was growing by the second as every person in the kingdom who was watching the television at that moment fed her power with their faith. She could hear the terrified reporter trying to do his job while showing the proper reverence for his goddess, "...the Lady Hylia has just manifested herself in full glory and driven off the unknown sorcerer that felled the Hero of Hyrule..." This has to be stopped, she thought to herself. It all has to be stopped. Xehanort, me, all of it.

She went to Link's side and saw what the mouse had seen. It was a sliver of darkness that was feeding on the horrors of darkness that had built up within the soul of her beloved over the eons of their struggles. She could see into his very being and see it slowly poisoning his soul as he tried valiantly to fight it off. She kissed her finger and touched it to his lips saying, "Sleep love, rest." And Link fell completely unconscious. "It's time for the princess to save the Hero and the kingdom." She smiled sadly at the thought.

"Is he going to be okay?" Mickey asked worried. "That looks really bad."

"He's going to sleep now so he can focus on his fight within. He'll need all his energy to conquer the living nightmares." She said, her voice taking on a resonance of power. "The source of the poison of darkness must be destroyed. Will you help me, friend?" She asked the mouse.

"Of course, princess. Let's end this once and for all." Mickey said with determination.

"Then come with me. He knew about the Master Sword, there's only one place he now needs to go." She took his four fingered hand in her own radiant slender feminine one.

"Where are we going?" Mickey asked.

"The Temple of Time, little mouse. But first, we need to pick up a very special weapon that my friends from Atlantis have created for us." Zelda told him. She held his hand tight, and the two of them disappeared from the square in a flash of light.

Chapter 6

It was so quiet in the war room that one could have heard a pin drop as all eyes were on the monitors which had been tied into the closed circuit cameras in the Old Castle Town square. Daniel and Bill had been woken up to join Shepherd in the military command center. The Hylian officers in the room stared with awe and wonder at the live video feed, a few had gotten down on their knees in prayer and devotion.

"My god," Daniel said stunned at what he was witnessing, "she's broken the rules."

"What do you mean broken the rules?" Bill asked.

"It's part of the conditions for their rebirth. They can't, uh, they can't use any of their powers they had as ascended beings to intervene in mortal affairs." Daniel told him. "They can't do anything a normal Hylian can't do."

"Wow. I didn't even think she could if she wanted to. So, you mean to tell me both she and Link could have done this the entire time if they had wanted to?" Bill asked.

"I didn't think so either, but I guess we were both wrong." Daniel said slowly, thinking it through.

Shepherd stared at the monitor until he saw the goddess and the mouse disappear. "Well, it's out of our hands now. We've got our own part of the fight to worry about." He said, his eyes on the radar screens. He looked at the clock on the wall. "It's almost six. The sun is rising. Dammit McKay, where are you?"

On the screens in front of him the blips which represented the enemy gyrocopters were already well past the coastal mountains and were now over the Field. Friendly Royal Guard aircraft had already been launched and were now engaged with them but too many were breaking through, they would be overhead within minutes.

"Hyrule Field to Supreme Command!" Came a call over the radio. Shepherd answered it, "General Shepherd of Supreme Command, go ahead Hyrule Field." He knew what the report would be, he thought. There would be enemy soldiers landing and engaging their troops.

"General sir, half of the gyrocopters have broken off, and are heading south. Half are heading north towards Castleton. There has been no landing in the Field. I repeat, there has been no landing in the Field." The soldier said.

Shepherd looked towards the radar map. Sure enough, the hostiles had broken into two groups, but nothing had dropped in Hyrule Field. Where were the southern group heading? He checked the maps and mentally plotted out a map. They were heading to Faron Province. Why would they be heading the Faron Province? There's nothing there but a few small towns and the Great Forests. And what's in the Great Forests? He asked himself. "The Sacred Grove. They're headed for the Sacred Grove." Why hadn't he figured on that? He cursed himself.

"Copy that, Hyrule Field. Pack up everything you can and get down to the Faron Woods immediately. The coordinates are..." he checked his numbers, "Latitude one niner point four two three, Longitude minus niner niner point one two three. Relocate immediately."

"Confirm those coordinates, command? Those are in the middle of Faron Woods." The officer asked in confusion.

"Coordinates confirmed. There's a command post there. It's the only target that makes sense. Relocate immediately." Shepherd told him.

"Understood, command. Orders confirmed." The soldier said, then clicked off.

Shepherd then turned his attention back to the blips on the screen that were heading straight for them. "Come on, Rodney. Any time now would be good." He told the screen.

Rodney was up on a ladder trying to connect his last crystal. After confirming with the other two men, it was almost complete. The sun had emerged from behind the eastern mountains. "Okay, this is the last one," He said into the two way radio. He then connected the power and the blue crystal glowed. He was exhausted, but the system was in place. He could hear the loud hum of rotor winged aircraft approaching the city. "Okay, Phil, Afredo, it's time for you to do your stuff!" He said. The radio went dead, as he waited, hoping that their idea worked as the gyrocopters came within sight. They were huge. "Oh crap." Rodney exclaimed as he saw the enemy bombers.

From that distance they looked like flying triangles with spinning circles where the three angles formed corners. There were still at least a dozen of them even after meeting up with their own air forces and the anti-aircraft artillery on the coast.

They came closer and closer, and grew larger and larger in the sky. Rodney hurried down the ladder and moved across the street from the street lamp he had just modified. He waved to his vehicle driver to get over and join him. He yelled into the radio again. "Any time now!"

Overhead, he could see underneath the bombers doors opening. Then objects started to fall from the aircraft. "It's not going to work!" Rodney cried out covering his head, waiting for the explosions to start.

"Sir, look!" The driver said, pointing up in amazement. All around them the streetlamps glowed brightly with a blue energy and it grew bigger and bigger until they all connected, and the energy field kept expanding downwards towards the street and quickly skywards higher and higher until from all around the city the energy met at a point over it as a huge blue dome of protective energy.

The objects which fell from the aircraft exploded harmlessly against the blue shield in a brilliant display one right after the other. It was spectacular as the bombers continuously released their payloads in frustration trying to break through the impermeable shield energy.

"What magic is that?" The driver asked. "I've never seen anything so brilliant and beautiful."

"That my friend, is a whole lot of Nayru's love." Rodney said, a big smile on his face.

"It certainly is," The driver said, kneeling down, his head bowed, he traced three triangles around his head and shoulders.

Rodney looked at him and then looked down at him, "What are you doing?"

"Giving thanks to my goddess for her protection over our city." The driver said.

"Oh for goodness sakes..." Rodney began to protest, and then was going to start in about how they weren't gods but ascended beings, and worshiping them was stupid, and... "Oh forget it." he gave up. "It worked flawlessly when it really shouldn't have. Maybe we did have a little bit of help." He then looked to the sky and whispered so the driver couldn't hear him, "Thank you."

"Get out of my way little cripple." The injured old man told Talon. "You're standing in the way of the inevitable. All things come from darkness and to darkness all things return." To Talon's horror, the old man wielded the Master Sword in his left hand, and a wicked looking key weapon in his right. Somehow he had activated the gateway and strode right through it much to Talon's surprise.

He had been trying to keep in contact with the palace over the events of the last day and hadn't slept for twenty four hours when he felt the man's evil enter his home and prison. He grabbed the sword Lady Malona had brought him. He had used it to retrain himself to fight with his right hand, though he never truly expected to need it. He strapped a shield to the stump of his left forearm and went to the entry hall.

"You are not welcome here. Leave now and no harm will come to you." Talon boomed the challenge at him, his voice echoing off the halls of the chamber.

"Yes, that seems to be the general theme today, doesn't it?" The old man said as he moved forward.

Talon took in the whole appearance of his opponent. He could see blood dribbling from the man's side from what looked like a sword wound, and every movement seemed to cause him pain. Someone had already wounded him, Talon observed. Even then, he could tell the man would be a dangerous opponent, maybe even more so because of it. Talon raised his sword and shield into a fighting stance.

"Oh look, the little cripple is going to play the hero, how nice." The old man said evilly.

"I'm not the hero," Telon replied, "My father is the Hero. I'm just my father's son." And he launched himself into an attack. The old man brought up his own blades to block it as Talon's steel blade came down hard at his head. Talon's leap carried him in a sommersault over the man's head, and it forced him to spin around to face his opponent again. When he did he caught Talon's shield in his face, dazing him as he cried out, his nose bleeding profusely.

The old man lashed out in a rage, swinging his two swords with a practiced skill, beating Talon back towards the gateway. Talon spun and rolled around the old man slashing at his back where the old man caught it with his wicked black key weapon. "Oh, you don't like that direction, do you?" The old man taunted as he turned to face the Hylian Sage again.

"On the contrary, it has a lovely view. Allow me to show you!" He said as he started in again, trying to drive the old man back the way he came across the marble floor. The old man was breathing hard, Talon could tell. The combat was wearing him down. "Leave this Temple!" He ordered him.

"No, I think it is you who will leave!" The old man shouted in replied, and he gestured with one of his swords towards Talon, swinging it towards the gateway. Talon's body was flung towards the door that he knew would be lethal to him if he crossed the threshold. He cried out to his Lady in fear and desperation, "Hylia, save me!"

The old man turned his back to the doomed man and, in pain and becoming exhausted from the tremendous exhertion his challengers were placing on him, moved slowly toward the pedestal, the final keyhole which would unlock the realm he had been searching for all of his life, "The true Kingdom Hearts awaits me."

Talon flew threw the air towards the door, and then was stopped in mid-air just inches from the doorway. An enraged young woman's voice cried out, "NO MORE OF MY FAMILY WILL YOU HARM!"

Thunder boomed and echoed in the great chamber, and the old man was forced to turn and look to see what was happening. What he saw filled his heart with terror once again.

"What?" Talon asked in confusion as he hung suspended in the air. "Who?"

He was set gently on his feet, and his eyes gazed on a shining, radiant female form as they were raised from the floor to look into her beautiful, light filled face. "My Lady!" He exclaimed, dropping to one knee. She shone like the sun, glorious with light radiating from ever part of her form.

She raised him to his feet again, saying, "Rise and take this, my champion." The beautiful, musical voice of the princess he had watched grow up resonated with power like the thunder of a raging storm. She placed in his right hand a sharpened sword with a red jewel embedded in the cross piece of the hilt. "Touch the jewel." She instructed, he did so with his thumb, and it began to glow red. She gestured with her hands and a golden bow appeared from nowhere resting in them. A quiver of arrows shining brilliantly with light adorned her back. "Now, my champions," she addressed Talon and the companion she traveled with, a four foot black and tan mouse wielding a sword fashioned in the shape of a key, "Let us finish this."

The command post at the entry gate of the Sacred Grove in Faron Woods had been on alert for the past twenty four hours, and had doubled their patrols. The nervous, gray uniformed men kept their assault weapons at the ready, and all the gun emplacements along the fence were constantly manned. As well trained as the men were, few if any of them had ever seen true combat in their lifetimes. All eyes were on the clearing on the other side of the fence.

Soon they heard the hum of the rotor winged aircraft, but couldn't see them. They scanned the skies with their binoculars trying to see which direction the enemy would be coming from. Captain Jovani was at the front gate with his men after receiving the heads up from General Shepherd.

"Any contacts sighted yet?" He called out to his spotters.

"No contacts yet, sir!" Came the calls back.

Then, on the other end of the clearing, he saw movement in the trees and foliage. "Contacts sighted!" He called out.

Out of the brush came dozens of wild blue trolls, males, females, and females clutching little ones running as if for their lives. The lanky humanoid creatures were normally just curious nuisances which had to be driven off. Then he began to observe them, and realized that their intelligence was only a little higher than that of a dog's. Not really wanting to slaughter them for just existing, over time, Jovani began to order his men to just scare them off with warning shots, and it usually worked pretty well.

This time though Jovani could see the panic in their eyes. They were terrified. Behind the trolls came wild octoroks also trying to get away from something. "Hold your fire!" He called out. It wasn't right to shoot them for trying to run for their lives. The trolls and octoroks ran towards the fence and hit it, the trolls pounding on it with their fists screaming at them with unintelligible sounds. The octoroks veered to the sides of the fence and ran for the nearest underbrush they could find. The guardsmen looked from screaming troll to screaming troll unsure of what to do, their fingers on the triggers of their weapons. "Let them go!" Jovani called out again. The trolls finally understood they weren't getting behind the fence, and ran in the direction the octoroks took, looking in terror back towards the woods they had just come out of as they ran. "Let them go!" He called out again, "All eyes on the clearing, weapons hot!" Around him he could hear the sounds of weapons being cocked and safeties being taken off.

On the other side of the clearing, shots began to ring out and strike the sides of the fence and the gun towers. "Take cover!" Jovani shouted. "Don't fire until you can see them!"

More gunfire came from the woods on the other side of the clearing, and then helmeted, blue uniformed men began to appear crawling across the ground, their own weapons in front of them. They set themselves up and began to spray the fence line with machine gun fire.

"Open fire!" Jovani called out, and the fence line was ablaze with machine guns as the royal guardsmen returned fire.

More enemy soldiers began to pour out of the woods as they established larger machine gun emplacements of their own, and Jovani began to see that they were going to be quickly outnumbered. Around him, his own men were getting caught by enemy fire as he continued to shoot. Great goddesses we're going to be overrun! He thought to himself.

Enemy mortars launched their explosive shells at the gun towers. One emplacement exploded as the guardsman station there was blown from his seat. The gray guardsmen continued to fight on but Jovani could see they were losing men. "Goddesses help us!" He prayed.

He then heard thunder coming from the woods to the south. "Now what?" He feared.

And then the magnificent forms of a dozen horses broke through the foliage and began trampling over the enemy soldiers on the ground with their hooves, their riders in gray firing their own weapons from horseback at whichever blue soldier they could target. The enemy soldiers were thrown into confusion, unable to react fast enough to the new, unexpected threat. The horsemen were so far behind the enemy's own emplacements that the blue uniformed men couldn't turn their own large guns fast enough before they were cut down.

"It's cavalry." Jovani said in disbelief.

A cheer rose up from the men behind the fence and they regrouped themselves, taking careful aim so as not to hit their saviors on horseback. "Help them out!" Jovani called out.

More enemy soldiers continued to come from the woods and replace their fallen comrades. The horsemen continued to shoot until they began to run out of ammunition. And then, to Jovani's amazement, they drew their swords and shields and began hacking at the men on the ground they could reach, using their shields to deflect the enemy fire. "Protect the horses!" Jovani called out, and the men at the fence took careful aim at anyone who pointed their weapons at the horses, and that was just about everyone.

But the men on horseback were only a dozen, and the enemy soldiers recovered from their initial confusion, and they turned their weapons towards them. And they just kept coming out of the woods.

Xehanort turned to face his new attackers. The crippled Sage and the mouse moved to flank him on either side, assuming a fighting stance. The light filled woman drew her bow and aimed it, he knew, at his heart. Both blades in his hand, he knew he was in no shape to fight all three of them. He also knew his own forces would be engaged at the top of the canyon and should be down in the Grove to secure it for him shortly. He still had the chi-blade. He could afford to be patient a little while longer.

"We will finish this later," he said, and then, crossing his blades he moved to relocate himself outside of the temple and behind the lines of his own forces at the top of the canyon.

Except he didn't go anywhere. He tried it again, but he remained in the same entry hall of the Temple. "What is happening?"

"This is the Temple of Time." The cripple told him, seeing his confusion. "Time doesn't flow in here. It is always the same moment within the Temple, neither past nor future, but the ever present now. The only way back to normal time is through the gateway."

I'm trapped! The realization broke over his conscious mind. And then pain struck him in the chest as another one of the blasted light arrows hit him. Then the mouse attacked him, and Xehanort caught his keyblade with his own as the cripple attempted to skewer him and was deflected by the chi-blade.

"Fools!" He shouted at them, "Even if you were to kill this body, I cannot be destroyed so easily! My possession of your so-called Sages, and your Hero will become complete! I will be more powerful than ever!"

He spun and attacked the cripple, who caught his blows on his shield. The mouse took advantage of this to strike him in the back with his own keyblade, and he howled in rage, sending a wave of darkness against the mouse throwing him against the wall. Another arrow hit him, and he fell to one knee.

I have to dispose of the light witch, Xehanort realized, and he moved to strike the girl, throwing a forceful wave of darkness at her. It hit her, but broke around her, and he threw another one. The cripple ran at him to block his way, shouting, "No!"

This cripple has annoyed me long enough. Xehanort thought to himself. He motioned with his right hand and his own keyblade disappeared, as he used the darkness to draw the cripple to him through the air and onto the waiting tip of the chi-blade. The cripple slid onto the blade easily as the sword passed through his right lung. He would take a long time to die from that wound. It would be painful and bloody, Xehanort was satisfied. And then pain took his own body into its grasp.

Xehanort looked down to find the cripple's own sword embedded in his chest. The red jewel in the cross piece shining brightly. "Go to oblivion, monster." The cripple spat blood at him with his dying breath, flecks of crimson coming to his lips.

Xehanort began to laugh, expecting the release of his soul to fly to his chosen hosts, but then something went wrong. He felt himself being... erased. "What... is... this...!" He said, his voice dying. And then he just ceased to be.

Then what light there had been left Xehanort's eyes, and the lifeless corpse dropped to the ground, releasing Talon from his dark grip, his body still impaled by the Master Sword. The Sage hit the marble floor with a painful thud, blood flowing from his wound. He could feel himself dying as he lay there. "And now, I finally pay my debt in full, as is only just." He said with pain.

And then the shining form of his goddess was by his side, smiling down at him, "No, my nephew," she said gently, "finally, you have fully redeemed yourself." She passed her radiant hand over his wound and, gripping the blue hilt, withdrew the sword from his body slowly and with care.

"My Lady," he said, gasping, drowning in his own blood.

"My dear Sage," she replied as she passed her other hand over his wound. The flesh and skin repaired itself, and his breathing became easy and natural. The pain ceased completely. "For what you have done here, for myself, and for all of Hyrule, I free you from your imprisonment."

She then went over to the mouse who had been thrown against the wall. He lay unconscious on the floor, his head resting at an angle against the wall he had hit. The goddess knelt down and touched him on the head gently, and his eyes opened. "Zelda?" He asked. "What happened?"

"Xehanort has finally received the justice he deserved." Zelda responded. "He will trouble no realm ever again."

"Really?" Mickey asked. "It's over?"

"It's over." She repeated softly, thinking about all that implied. "But now there are others that need my help. Stay here with Talon until my return."

"Yes, ma'am." The mouse replied.

Russel continued to hack and slash as hard and as fast as he could, but their were just too many of them. His horse, Xavier had been shot out from under him, and he had been forced to fight the enemy soldiers on foot with just his sword and shield. He let the anger and pain of the loss of his old friend to fuel his muscles as he cut through the enemy troops. Several of his other men had been forced on foot as well, and they fought back to back, shield each other from the hail of gunfire aimed at them, while the guardsmen from behind the fence across the clearing continued to support them with cover fire. But there were just too many, and Russel knew it.

So be it, he thought. I'll take as many of the eastern bastards with me as I can. And he continued to fight, exhausted though he was. The other men fought on, equally determined as well.

Then an explosion of light appeared over the battlefield of the clearing, forcing everyone, friend and foe alike to look upwards. It was as if the bright sun had come down from the sky and taken the form of a young woman, in her left hand was held a long bright sword with a shining sapphire hilt, hovering in the air above the battlefield. Lightning struck the ground around and underneath her, and the air was charged with unmistakable power.

"Soldiers of Hyrule, listen to me!" She cried out, and everyone stopped fighting in that instant as the murmur of her name passed along the lips of everyone who gazed on the sight. "Hylia!" The name was passed around reverently.

One enemy gunner though, looking upon the sight instead trained his weapon on her. He never got the chance to shoot however as a bolt of lightening flew from the sky and struck him. The blackened, burnt husk of his corpse dropped to the ground. Upon this sight, everyone, gray and blue alike dropped their weapons to the ground.

"You will cease this conflict immediately!" She cried out. "Eastern Hyrule, your leader is dead and destroyed. You have no reason left to fight. Return home." She ordered, pointing east with the tip of the sword, indicating the direction she wanted them to go.

A confusion and a panic arose among the soldiers as they didn't know what to do. She pointed at the ground with the sword and more lightning exploded around the blue uniformed men. They backed up, and then began to run back into the woods, leaving their weapons behind.

The cavalrymen, to a man, all dropped to one knee in reverence, their swords driven into the ground in front of them before their goddess. Russel knelt his head in humility over the hilt of his sword.

The goddess then descended to the ground and went to the men who lay injured and bleeding, blue and gray uniforms alike, unable to rise, or retreat. As she passed between them, she placed her hands on each one and their wounds and injuries sealed themselves, and they were able to recover. The enemy soldiers, grateful to the goddess, got up and left after their comrades.

She then moved over the clearing towards the gate of the fence and passed through it. Seeing the injured and dying men on the ground, she passed among them as well, healing their wounds. The guard captain dropped to his knees before her in reverence.

The goddess said nothing more to anyone, but just looked sadly at the men who had died from the fighting, both the blue and the gray. When she was finished moving among the men whom she could heal, she vanished in a great burst of light.

"Holy goddess." Captain Jovani whispered. And the battle was over.

Chapter 7

Talon breathed the sweet, fragrant air of the Sacred Grove deeply. This was his first act after stepping through the gateway from inside the Temple of Time. Beneath his boots, the hard, worn stones of the ruined crumbled a bit as he surveyed his surroundings. Overhead, the morning sun had risen to its full glory. Only a few clouds floated in the sky, and none of them sought to challenge its supremacy. Tears came to his eyes as he heard the song of the birds in woods surronding the ancient ruins. "I'm free." He said. Then the tears began to fall freely as the emotion of the moment overwhelmed him. "At long last, I'm free."

Next to Talon stood the mouse who had fought at his side against the would be master of darkness. "It's a beautiful day." The mouse said in wonder at the sight.

"It most certainly is, friend." Talon said, trying to rein his tears back in. "It most certainly is."

A third figure passed through the blue energy field of the gateway to stand beside them. The Princess Zelda also took a breath of the fresh air. Her light had faded, but not been completely extinguished. The power still waited inside of her, urging her to unleash it again.

"It's done." She told the other two. Her voice had also returned to something a bit more normal for the young woman. "The Master Sword has been returned to her pedestal so that she may sleep once again."

"And the god-killer, my Lady?" Talon asked. It was the first time he had used the name for the blade that had snuffed out the evil old man, but it felt fitting.

"It has been deactivated, and it too sleeps in a vault deep within the Temple." Zelda replied. In truth she had buried it so deep within the recesses of the Temple it may never be found again.

"So what happens now?" He asked, feeling the warmth of the risen sun on his face.

"I meant what I said, nephew." Zelda told him, seeing no reason to maintain any pretense any long about who she was, or what she knew. "You are free. You may go anywhere, or do anything you wish." She then paused thoughtfully, "Only I ask that you consider one other task for me. A position I believe you to be uniquely qualified to fill."

"I am always, and forever, at your service, my Lady." Talon responded, wondering what this task might be, and waiting for his aunt and goddess to elaborate.

"I know, nephew. I know." She told him. She then turned to address the mouse who seemed enraptured by the sight of Hyrule's natural beauty. "I know you have already helped us so much, your majesty," she said, using the title she knew he had purposely avoided telling them, "but I would humbly ask something further from you as well."

"Sure, what?" Mickey replied.

"There are six other Sages still trapped within their own Temples, and I know there are other heartless monsters loose within the ancient structures. I would ask for your help in clearing them and freeing the Sages from their self-imprisonment. Without your mastery of your keyblade, I'm afraid the teams I send to release them won't be able to open the doors to free them." Zelda explained.

"Sure, but why can't you just go and free them? You've certainly got the power to do it." Mickey asked in confusion.

"It's because of the power I have assumed that I can go no further with it. Already there have been unintended consequences, and I must answer to the Others for what I have taken upon myself. I'm afraid by the time I do, I will be unable to assist you." She explained with a heaviness in her voice, like the weight of the world sat on her shoulders.

"Surely you aren't leaving us again, my Lady?" Talon asked, fearful of the thought. "Hyrule still needs you, and the Hero! Who will guide us?"

"I don't know." She answered both questions sadly.

Mickey turned this new information over in his mind and then said solemnly, "You can count on me, your highness."

"Thank you, your majesty." She replied. She then said, "Would you both accompany me back to the Castle? I'm afraid it will have to be the long way this time."

"Yes." Talon answered, realizing that for the first time in two hundred years he was going home. "Yes, of course I will go with you."

"And I will too!" Mickey joined in.

The three then set off on foot to find their way back to the top.

Link's eyes blinked slowly open. He was laying on a hospital bed, and his clothes had been replaced with a white hospital gown. His lower half had been covered over with a sheet and blanket. In his right arm had been inserted a needle connected to a long thin line which was full of a red fluid dripping from a bag which had been hung next to the bed.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Hey! You're awake!" Came a familiar voice as two men he recognized came over from where he had been sitting. "How're you feeling?" Bill Lee asked. Next to him stood the specatacled, clean shaven face of Daniel Jackson. "Feeling better?" Jackson asked.

"Yeah," Link said, a little unsteadily. "Yeah, I think so. What happened?" He asked again, "I remember I was fighting Xehanort, and then I got hit in the stomach, and then..." His eyes went wide, "Oh no. I remember Zelda. Where is she? What did she do? Is she alright?" Panic came to his voice.

"Just calm down a minute," Daniel told him. "As far as we know she's fine." He said, not sure of how much to tell him. But at least that was the truth as much as he knew.

"She broke the rules." Link said gravely. "We weren't to interfere as anything other than ordinary mortals. That was the condition for our rebirth. We can't influence their beliefs, or rule them by force."

"I don't think either you or she have ever really been ordinary mortals, have you?" Daniel observed.

"We had to continue to be able to ascend. We couldn't take the chance of not being able to return again when Hyrule needed us. But the conditions of our rebirth were that we were not permitted to live as anything other than mortals, no matter what happened. And everyone saw her, didn't they?" Link asked, knowing the answer.

"Yeah, everyone saw her." Daniel said, knowing intimately why that was a cause for concern. "It was televised across the nation."

"Why did she do it?" Link asked.

"She watched her father be killed, and then Xehanort announced that he was going to take your body and send your soul into oblivion." Daniel answered. "I think that would be enough to send anyone over the edge. She reacted out of fear for you."

"It was her mama bear instincts." Bill added.

Link looked at him in confusion, not understanding the reference. Daniel also looked at him, waiting for an explanation.

"Don't you know?" Bill asked. "The most dangerous animal in a forest on Earth is a mother bear when something is threatening her cubs. The two people Zelda loved most in the world were being hurt and she reacted with a mother's instinct if you will."

"I can buy that logic." Daniel said in agreement.

"But it's going to cost her." Link said. "It's going to cost her so much."

"I know." Daniel said from experience. "No good deed goes unpunished by the Others."

When Zelda, Talon, and Mickey reached the top of the canyon a couple of hours later, they were met by Guardsmen still trying to assess the damage and what had happened. The minute they saw their Princess being escorted by the unknown, one handed man who resembled the Hero, and the four foot mouse, they immediately stopped what they were doing, and dropped to their knees in obeisance. It made Zelda increasingly uncomfortable and she tried to draw in the light which was emanating from her form even more.

"My Lady," The Guard Captain ran up to her, and knelt before her, "words cannot express our gratitude at what you have done for my men and I," he started to say, but she held up her hand, and he was silent. She then raised him to his feet, and said, "My companions and I need transportation to Castleton. Would you be so kind as to provide a vehicle with a driver?"

"Of course, my Lady, at once. I must stay here and oversee the post but I'm sure I can find a volunteer..." Captain Jovani told her, looking around at the available men.

Off to one side, on one knee with everyone else, was the group of cavalrymen who had come to their aid. Jovani had been amazed that it was the retired unit sent to them from Ordonville who had fought so valiantly and without thought for their own safety. They had earned their rest, he thought, and he began to look elsewhere, but he had caught the eye of their commanding officer, a lieutenant captain that he had just learned had been herding goats, and raising horses for the past twenty years.

"Captain?" The horseman called out, having overheard the conversation. "If the Lady needs a ride, I'll drive her. I need to go to Castleton anyway. One of your men just told me my boy was hurt, and I need to see to him."

Captain Jovani turned to the Princess and asked, "Will that be sufficient, my Lady?"

Zelda stiffened at his constant use of the deified title instead of "your highness." She answered, "yes, Captain, that will be more than sufficient." She then called the cavalryman over to her.

The lieutenant captain rose and moved to stand in front of her, "Lieutenant Captain Russel Swordsmith, your highness, at your disposal."

The Princess was shocked as she recognized the man's name, "So, your son who's been injured...?" She asked, not needing to finish her sentence as she knew to whom he referred.

"Yes, your highness. Unless I've read you completely wrong, I think we'll both be wanting to look in on him." Russel responded.

"Indeed we will, Captain. And please, call me Zelda." She said to the man who was, in some way she realized, family to her.

He seemed hesitant at this, but then nodded, "Link always called me Uncle Russel." He said.

"Then so will I, Uncle Russel." She told him. "Captain, my uncle and I need a vehicle." She said with authority.

"Uh... Of course. Right away, my Lady." Captain Jovani said, and then started barking orders to have an undamaged vehicle prepped and ready for them.

"Who're your friends, Zelda?" Russel asked, trying out the name.

"Uncle Russel, this is Mickey Mouse, a king from another world." She said gesturing to the mouse next to her. He extended his gloved hand to shake the horseman's, which Russel took willingly. And this, she turned to Talon, "Is Talon, the Sage of Time, my nephew."

"Your nephew?" Russel asked in confusion at the obviously older man and knowing the Princess was an only child, thrusting his own hand out."Has anyone told you you look a lot like my foster son?" He asked the Sage.

"Yeah," Talon responded, repressing a smile, "I used to get that a lot. I think we're going to have an interesting conversation on the way to Castleton."

"Something tells me you're right." Russel told him.

General Shepherd was overseeing the aftermath of the bombing and invasion in the war room. With the king dead, Link in the hospital, and Zelda who knows where, that left Shepherd to run the kingdom in their place until Zelda turned up again. He had been watching the radar screens and fielding reports, radio calls, and phone calls all that morning, and the reports he had been getting were, had he been anywhere else in any other position, unbelievable. As it was, he was still having a hard time believing what his own eyes had seen on the video monitors from earlier that morning, and he had personally known at least two ascended women on an, um, intimate basis.

"General, sir, we have another incoming call from the Sacred Grove," One of his underlings told him.

"What's the report?" He asked.

"The Princess is alive and well and is on her way to Castleton. She's being escorted by the Sage of Time, a retired cavalry Guardsman, and... uh... a four foot mouse, sir." He told him, not sure if he heard right.

Shepherd saw the look on the man's face and said, "That's okay, captain, I have a pretty good idea of who the mouse is. He's one of ours." Boy, that's a weird thought, Shepherd thought to himself.

"Yes, sir." The captain said uncertainly, looking at his General in a funny manner. "Their E.T.A. is around eleven o'clock or so."

"Understood." Shepherd said. "Any news from the hospital on the Hero's condition?" He asked. He hadn't had the chance to go and check on Link personally. It was one of the things he really hated about being the top guy in charge.

"Yes, sir. He's awake and responsive." The captain replied. His general had ordered him to have the hospital contact them directly with updates on Link's condition. "Dr. Lee and Dr. Jackson are with him now."

"Good." He said. "Any word from Dr. McKay?" He hadn't heard anything from Rodney since the blue energy shield had gone up and stayed up. With the bombers gone, and he confirmed they were off of the radar, it now needed to come down so life could somewhat return to normal in the capital.

"Not yet sir." The captain responded. "Should I try radioing for him again?"

"Yeah, go ahead." Shepherd said. Come on Rodney, I need the shield down now. He thought.

"Sir, satellites and radar confirm, all hostile aircraft have left our airspace. Eastern Field ground forces report that all enemy ground forces have surrendered and laid down their weapons." Another underling piped up.

"Good. Treat them as prisoners of war." Shepherd ordered. "Have them contained, but unmolested. Food, water, and appropriate housing until we can arrange for their return to their own government. They're just soldiers who were following orders." He told them.

"Right away, sir." The underling responded, and then started relaying the orders.

"Sir, I've just received a report from Dr. McKay." The previous captain told him.

"Go ahead." Shepherd said.

"He says everything's fine, they're just working on taking down the shield now. It's proving to be more energetic than they originally predicted." The captain relayed the message.

What's that supposed to mean? Shepherd wondered. "How long until it comes down?" He asked.

The captain asked over the radio and then received a response. "They don't know sir, they're working on cutting the power to it, but it's being fed by two hundred connections to the power grid. They're having to disable each one."

"Fair enough." Shepherd said. "Tell him to make sure that it's down before eleven. The Princess is going to need to be able to get into the palace."

"Yes, sir. I'll relay that." The captain said, and then held the head-phones away from his ears as Dr. McKay responded in a testy manner. "He says he'll do what he can, sir." The captain relayed.

"Good." Shepherd responded. "Very good."

The Princess and her escort saw the massive blue energy shield from a distance as they approached Castleton along the highway in their loaned gray steam powered R.H.M.G patrol truck. "What is that?" Russel asked.

"It looks like Nayru's love, but on a scale I've never seen before." Talon said in awe. "I hope it comes down before we get into the city, or else we're going to be left on the outside."

Just then the energy shield began to collapse downwards. "Ask and you will receive." Russel said.

Link was still in his hospital bed when he received the new visitors. He was sitting up talking with Daniel and Bill when Zelda and his Uncle Russel walked through the doorway.

His uncle Russel didn't say and word when he saw him, but the look on his face conveyed a hundred emotions that were running through him. He then went over to the side of the bed and embraced his foster son as tightly as he felt he could. "You okay, son?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay Uncle Russel." Link said in response, returning the embrace, glad for the older man's presence. "I'm okay."

"Why does it seem like I'm always picking you up from the hospital lately?" Russel joked with him.

Link had no answer except, "How should I know? I'm just a dumb high school kid."

Russel let the young man go, and then Link asked, "Are Colin and Aunt Tara okay?"

"They're fine. They're under good protection right now. Though your aunt has been worried sick about you, Colin too. They going to let you come home any time soon, son?" Russel asked, fearing what his answer might be, and not because of any obvious injury.

"The doctors want me in here for at least the next twenty four hours, and then I'm free to go. As for after that..." Link took a deep breath and let it out, "I need to see how things work out." He looked at Zelda when he said it.

"Well, if it's okay with the powers that be, I'll be in town until you know what you're doing. I'll be right here for you, son, whatever your decision." Russel told him.

"You are free to remain in Castleton as long as you wish." Zelda told him. "I'll have rooms prepared for you in the palace as a visiting member of the royal family. You won't need to worry about anything you need for as long as you're here. I'll see to it personally."

"That's very kind, Zelda." Russel said by way of gratitude.

"Uh, may I speak with her highness alone?" Link asked of the other men who were there.

"Of course." They all straightened up. "We'll be just outside." Russel said, and the three men left the hospital room, and closed the door behind them.

"You're still glowing." Link said to her sadly.

She blushed, and the shimmer which had been around her faded even more, but still wouldn't go out completely. "I'm sorry. I just... I just couldn't help it. I barely knew what I was doing until I let the first arrow fly. After that I tried to control it, but there was so much that needed to be set to right, and that man was going to do so much worse than kill you. I couldn't bear to lose you, not forever." Her voice pleaded with him for his understanding.

She looked into his eyes and found love there; love, compassion, and even understanding, but also sadness. He took her hands into his own. "I know. But we both know what this might mean. It changes everything for the both of us. It cannot continue in the same way. You know that. They won't let it. All of Hyrule saw it and put their faith in you. You know that."

"I know it." She said, feeling badly because of it. "I could feel it. I can still feel it. It's like a flood that I can't turn off. All those people looking to me to save them, to guide them. It was easier when I wasn't physically here among them."

"I know." He replied, knowing exactly what she meant. "You can't stay. _We_ can't stay. Not in these roles at least. It's too much of a temptation."

"Where would we go?" She asked. "Where could we go?"

"We'll find somewhere. Somewhere far from Castleton. I promise. But there's one more thing." Link told her.

"What's that?" She asked, worried about what new trouble might have arisen.

"We can't leave Castleton until we do so properly, as man and wife once more. I won't lose you to anyone or anything ever again. We're both legally adults now in this life. No one can say no." He told her resolutely. "No matter what punishment the Others inflict on us. And it will be on _us_," he emphasized the word, "because whatever they do to you, they're going to have to do to me too. I love you."

"I love you, too." She returned, and leaned over to kiss her Hero.

After she left Link in the hospital, Zelda has been called down to view the body of her father in the hospital's morgue. It was almost more than she could bear. She knew she had the power to call him back from death, but she also knew that once she started down that road, there was no turning back. Once done, she fled the hospital and took solace in her beloved castle gardens. In her hands was an ancient harp which she strummed sadly, as heavy thoughts filled her heart. The melancholy tune which resulted sounded beautiful and dark through the multitude of beautiful trees, topiaries, and flowers.

"May I join you?" Asked an older woman's voice. Zelda stopped playing and looked up to see a middle aged reflection of her own features. Deep blue eyes, golden blond hair streaked with silver, high cheekbones; the lady was a handsome woman wrapped in a blue dress.

"Mother." Zelda said. "Of course." She recognized the older woman from eons past. "I was expecting you at some point."

The older woman sat down next to her on the bench. "It really is very lovely here." She said. "And peaceful." She looked down at the golden harp, "I'm glad it's still in good condition. It was my favorite instrument when I was your age, and you play so beautifully."

"Thank you, mother." Zelda said.

"You know why I've come?" Nayru asked. "Hylia my daughter, first, I could not be more proud of you, for everything you've done and sacrificed for this world; you and Copulus."

"Thank you, mother." Zelda answered, awaiting with fear what came next.

"But you must know that there are consequences for the actions you've taken. You've interfered in a way that will set these people back in their own spiritual development as they look to you and not their own practice of faith to deliver them from every bad circumstance which comes their way. There will always be some new evil to threaten them, and they must learn to counter it themselves, whether it be a person, some natural disaster, or a faulty idea like that racist nonsense." Nayru told her gravely. "They have to be allowed to make their own mistakes and learn from them or they will never grow and reach ascension on their own. Are you going to help every one of them join us? Every one of them that believes in you? We both know that you can't. It's not possible, and what happens if you make a mistake and allow another Demise or that Xehanort fellow?"

"He was going to destroy Link's soul." Zelda said weakly. "I was going to lose him forever."

"I know. Din, Farore, and I were discussing the situation, and your penance." Nayru told her.

"And what was your decision, mother?" Zelda asked.

Nayru looked at her with as much motherly compassion as she could muster as she said, "It was our decision that both you and Copulus should be made completely mortal. Your powers are stripped from you. You will be denied ascension again on your own. When the time comes, we will decide if the two of you shall rejoin us again or not, depending."

The light faded completely around Zelda, and within herself she could feel the energy and power which had been transferred to her bleeding away. She felt drained and exhausted. She then asked, "Depending on what?"

"Depending on how well you stay out of their affairs, and live your own lives in peace." Nayru told her. "Don't see this as a punishment, my daughter." She said. "See it as a chance for the life that neither of you have been able to have for eons."

Zelda considered this, and all the tension and stress she had been feeling finally broke within her. She started smiling, and then she started giggling, and then she started laughing uncontrollably.

"Oh, my dear, whatever are you laughing for?" Nayru asked her, worried.

"I don't know." Zelda responded between a fit of giggles. "I just... I just realized that it was the best punishment you've ever given me, mother." Tears flowed from her eyes, but they weren't tears of sadness. She then asked, "Will I see you again? Will Link see Farore?"

"We're always watching, my daughter. And who knows? Perhaps we may visit you from time to time, especially if you give us grandchildren again." Nayru answered.

"Oh," Zelda remembered, "Will you come to our wedding?"

"We will always be watching you, my daughter. We will always be watching you." The older woman said smiling. And then she was gone, dissolved into a blue mist of light.

It was later in the evening when Link received a knock at his hospital room door. He had been watching the news on the television, but it was full of constant replays of the day's events, especially the events which occurred around dawn. He had tried changing the channel, but it was no use. It was on every channel, being covered and commented on by a score of different opinions.

He watched his failure repeatedly, and Zelda's "divine manifestation," constantly wondering if there was something else he could have done to stop the evil man right then and there. Words couldn't describe his emotions watching the king lunge in front of him, taking the blade that was meant for his own heart. He had failed the king he was there to protect, needing protection himself. He had failed Zelda, and she had broken the rules to save his very soul, threatening her own eternal soul. He had failed Hyrule being unable to continue the fight.

He switched off the television with the remote control, and said, "Come in." He expected it to be General Shepherd, or perhaps his Uncle Russel again, but the face that greeted him was not who he expected at all. It had been two hundred years, and his other memory of the man was still as fresh as the day he had been imprisoned for his crimes. It made it no better to remember that he had been his own son. But, he remembered, that was then, in the past.

"I was told you were still awake. I wanted to see you. I hope that it wasn't inappropriate." Talon said awkwardly, not really knowing what to say to Link, but feeling like he needed to be there anyways.

"No, I was just... I wasn't doing anything important." He said in response. The man was physically eight years older than himself, but their connection ran deep as the memories of a little red haired boy came coursing through Link's mind. He remembered the first sword he had pressed into that little boy's left hand. The hand that this man no longer had.

"The doctors tell me that they're letting you go tomorrow." Talon said, not sure of what to say or how to say it. "They tell me you'll be able to return to the palace fully healed."

"Yeah," Link said, "They told me that too."

"Well, I just wanted to... I just wanted to... see how you were doing." Talon said, and then he made a move for the door.

"Talon." Link said, stopping him from leaving. "Zelda told me what you did in the Temple."

"She did?" Talon asked.

"She said you sacrificed yourself to destroy Xehanort, and would have died if she hadn't prevented it. I'm glad she did." Link told him.

"Thank you." Talon said, unsure of what else to say or how to feel.

"You redeemed yourself today, son." Link said, adopting a paternal tone of voice he hadn't used in a very long time. "You succeeded where I failed." He said with a hint of bitterness in his voice, but then he said sincerely, "I'm proud of the man you've become."

Centuries of pent up emotions overwhelmed Talon, and he began to weep, "Father..." He began to say, but couldn't finish. Link held out his arms while he sat on his hospital bed, and Talon knelt down and into his seventeen year old father's embrace. "I'm proud of you, my son." Link repeated. "Your brother and mother would be too."

Two days later, after Link had been discharged from the hospital, and things began to settle back down to normal, the Princess held a press conference at the entry to the palace, where she asked Talon and Link, who chose to wear his brown denim pants and green Ordonville High School pullover instead of the Hero's tunic, to attend. She had chosen to stay out of the public eye until that point in time until she was sure everything was in place.

Her light had completely faded, and she was once more just a teenage princess. She walked up to the podium filled with microphones and began to speak. She had struggled to find the right words, the right things to say to them, the right way to explain everything that had happened and that was going to happen, and then finally she settled on just one thing; the truth, whether they would accept it or not.

"Good afternoon," she began, "and thank you all for coming to hear what I have to say. Two days ago, all of you were witness to my..." she searched for the right word, "manifestation, as one reporter referred to it. It was not something I was meant to do. I broke rules among the gods and goddesses of our world in order to do what I felt needed to be done at the time, and there are always consequences to breaking rules. I am no different from anyone else in that regard. We established those rules millennia ago to guard the free will of the people of this world to be able to choose there own paths, right or wrong, and to not use divine might to enforce our will on anyone. This is why we fought against Demise and others like him for so long. As long that power was enabled by me and within me, I became a threat to this, and the temptation will always exist for me to try and set things right when sometimes, people do things that aren't always the best for themselves or other. People need to be left to make their own choices, and to reap the consequences of their own mistakes. This is how we all learn and grow, and we can't do so on our own without them.

"I have been disciplined by the goddesses for my actions, and I am now, and will be until the day I die, fully mortal. You will not see me act in that capacity again. But just being made mortal isn't enough. I know I will continue to interfere because I love all of you and want to keep guiding you even when you need to find your own way. With this in mind, I have several announcements. Talon, will you please come stand next to me?" She called for the one handed man behind her.

The crowd of reporters gasped at his resemblance to the Hero and the photographs of a long dead historic king. He wore the red robe of a sage, and the emblem of the goddess Hylia.

"This is Talon, son of Link, the Hero of Hyrule, and Queen Malon, born two hundred and twenty-five years ago. He has been my Sage for two hundred years, but he was born a prince here, in this very castle." She remembered the day very well. "Today, in front of all of the United Kingdom of Hyrule, I am restoring his birthright and naming him crown prince and my sole heir." She told the stunned audience.

Talon himself was stunned. She hadn't told him anything about this. "My Lady, I must protest..." He began.

"You said you were at my service." Zelda reminded him. "This is how I choose for you to serve."She then turned back to the cameras, and continued. "I do so because here in front of you all, I am renouncing my own claim to the throne, and abdicating as the rightful heir. Talon Linkson will take the crown as your rightful sovereign as he was meant to do from birth."

Talon looked horrified at the prospect, but Zelda held his gaze and he submitted to her.

Then all of the reporters jumped up protesting, shouting, "No! You can't!" And "No, Princess, don't, we need you!" Another reporter cried out, "Please princess, you are our kingdom's heart! Don't leave us!"

Their remarks gave her all the more resolution to continue along her chosen path. "This is why I must step down and allow you to find your paths without me. It was never our intention to rule you forever, only to guide and protect you until you could find your own way. My final announcement," she continued, "will be my marriage to my one and only love. My Hero, Link, with whom I have already shared eons together." She gestured to the more ordinary looking teenager behind her. "After our marriage, we will fade away and no longer be involved with the government of the kingdom or its military. You will need to find your own wisdom, power, and courage without us. This is all I have to say. I will not be taking any questions." She said, and then she, Link and Talon quickly turned around and returned to the safety of the palace.

After they had gone through the gates, Link turned to her, holding her around her waist and said, "You did well. Just as we discussed."

"You discussed this?" Talon asked in disbelief. "You knew?"

"Of course I knew." Link responded. "I encouraged it. It's time we lived our own lives again, as much as we can with the time we've got. And, it's time your life was given back to you, as much as we could do for you."

"Man, people are going to be upset at that." Bill observed, watching the press conference from a television in the castle apartment he shared with Daniel and Rodney.

"Well, looks like Hyrule's going to need to get along without them sooner or later." Rodney said.

"I was talking about all the _Legend of Zelda_ fans on Earth. What's Nintendo going to do without Link and Zelda?" Bill said, feeling a bit depressed himself.

Daniel and Rodney both raised their eyebrows at the scientist, Daniel mouthing, "Oh...kay..."

"Wow." Rodney added.

"No, I'm serious," Bill went on, "Zelda's a big inspiration to people back on Earth. Imagine what it's going to mean to people here. That one lady was right, Zelda is the heart of this kingdom. From what I've heard from everyone since I got here, she and her father have been a moral compass, and that's not counting the religion built up around her. It's like telling the world that their god's going to retire and they're on their own now."

"I suppose that would make things a bit touchy for a while, wouldn't it?" Rodney said.

"Yes, it certainly would." Daniel agreed. "To every action there is a consequence, and this is one of the big consequences of the Ancients letting people believe that they are all powerful gods. Either they continue the masquerade forever, making the people forever dependent on them, or they give them tough love and force them to start making the right choices for themselves."

"So why the religion then?" Bill asked. "Why did they even start it at all?"

"They actually didn't," Daniel replied, "that was out of their control. They tried to keep it all from the general population as much as possible for thousands of years while protecting them at the same time. That's why the Legend of Zelda was known only to the royal family for so long and then kept close to the breast, so to speak. It was Malon who decided to make it public after Zelda and Link died the last time. She couldn't let go and move on. She wanted everyone to know all that they had done for them."

"So Zelda's trying to what? Fix the spiritual mess that was made?" Bill asked.

"Something like that." Daniel said, agreeing. "It's not going to be easy for anyone."

"No, I imagine not." Bill replied.

Epilogue

The stretch of field on Link's property outside of Ordonville was a vibrant green as he sat atop his mare Epona. His young wife Zelda, round with their first in this life rode side saddle next to him as the two horses walked casually back to their stables. Neither were in any hurry to be anywhere. It was the late summer, and it felt a hot, lazy day.

The small ranch property lay not far down the road from his uncle Russel's. After the small family wedding in the royal chapel, where Russel stood in a place of honor, resplendent in his full gray dress uniforms and all of his hard won medals displayed proudly, giving away the bride, his foster father had pulled him aside after they had exchanged vows in front of Talon, officiating his last act as the Sage of Time before taking the crown himself.

"So, are you coming home after this, or staying in Castleton?" Russel had asked him.

"We don't know where to go yet, Uncle Russel." The question had laid heavily on his mind. "And I don't think living in your attic for the rest of our lives would be the best for us either." He joked.

Russel laughed, "Well, no that's not what I had in mind." He said. "You know, when your mom died, the house you two were in was left open, but it was still in your mom's name. I spoke with the bank and the realtors years ago, and had them put it in your name, to be held in trust for you when you turned seventeen. It's not a big property, only about eighty acres or so, and the house needs some repair, but it might be enough to get the two of you started. Anyways, it's yours free and clear if you feel like you want to come home. It's also far enough away from the main road that I don't think too many people will come looking for you there."

Link had never been more grateful for the man the goddesses had given to raise him then he was at that moment. When he told Zelda, she agreed immediately. "It's not going to be the palace life by any means, he said, but it's big enough to keep our horses, and maybe add a few more."

"Can we start a flower garden?" She asked.

"Of course." Link said.

Talon had ordered a few Royal Family Protection Service Guards to keep uninvited guests off of Link's property, and hadn't given parliament the choice in letting them have a sizable stipend from the royal treasury to live off of, though Link didn't want to depend on that forever. He asked Zelda how she felt about raising goats for market. "As long as we're together, it sounds wonderful." Had been her response.

Their friends from Atlantis had only stayed long enough to ensure that Hyrule would transition peaceably and with stability after Zelda gave up the throne. They had also assisted their new friend Mickey Mouse and a team of Guardsmen to free the self-imprisoned Sages. Finally, General Shepherd stood for Link's best man at their wedding. Out of anyone else present, he had been one of the Hero's oldest, and best friends. Once all these things were done, the four men were returned to their own time and place by Talon, and the Sage of Time in the past, Impa.

His majesty, King Mickey, said his goodbyes as well to the couple after their wedding. "I hope we'll see each other again." He had told them. "And under better circumstances the next time!" And then he too returned to his own kingdom, family, and friends using his keyblade.

"Do you know one thing I will miss?" Link asked Zelda as they rode back to their farmhouse together.

"What is that?" She asked.

"Fencing with my teammates." He answered. "But I can't really go back, can I?"

"No." She answered. "We all have to move on and grow up at some point, whether we want to or not." She then asked, "If you could do it all over, knowing what you know now, would you have changed it?" She asked. "Would you have left me to my fate?"

He looked into her eyes, and then gestured to her swollen belly and the field and forest and house in the distance. "And give up all of this? This one perfect moment that we have now together? Never. It's time we all moved on, and right here and right now is exactly where I want to be, with you, my love."

And they walked their horses on side by side in the twilight of dusk towards the little run down farmhouse. And they lived, as much as they could, happily ever after.

THE END


End file.
